Wishful Thinking
by Lyhtning
Summary: What. The. Hell? Sasuke stared. He just saved a girl and SHE wants to grant him 3 wishes! What's a boy to do when all he wants is to get away from the crazy girl he accidently rescued? Chapter 8 up! ...yes, I know, FINALLY!
1. Three Wishes

**Wishful Thinking**

**by: Sakuranime**

Disclaimer: Do you think if I owned the Naruto cast I would be writing this? Hell, I would be cruising in my private yacht, scuba diving in the Caribbean, gambling (thought I'm underaged) at Las Vegas, taking a trip to Japan's hot springs, watching the 2nd Naruto movie in a private jet, buy all of the anime products in the world, buying Hershey park…

Honestly? I have no idea why I wrote this…the idea just POP!-ed into my crazy brain…(xD) WOW! I just keep coming up with ideas…lol. But then again, I only came up with the first chapter (if you could even call it a chapter…looks like craaaaap to me!) and I have NO CLUE what to make of this story…so just…READ.

Ideas are welcome! Don't think I don't read each and every review, cuz I do! (NOT a wedding proposal) I LOVE YOU READERS AND ESPECIALLY REVIEWERS! ARIGATOU GOZAIMASA!

Enjoy and review, onegai! (please!)

"Quotations"

'Thoughts'

(( _Flashbacks_ ))

Chapter 1: Three wishes

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Hands stuffed in his pockets, a lone raven-haired boy walked aimlessly under the dark sky. The breeze was cool against his skin, the moon casting a serene glow. Sasuke always enjoyed taking walks on a Konoha night like this. It gave him…a calm feeling. His problems of everyday ninja life was forgotten for now; only the night, moon, wind, and him. It was his sanctuary.

Unfortunately, on this particular night wasn't peaceful for the Uchiha…

A piercing shriek followed by animal-like growls interrupted Sasuke's train of thoughts. Brows creased, he turned to walk away but another shriek stopped him in his tracks. Was it an enemy attack…? Whatever it was, it was his duty as a Konoha shinobi to investigate.

The sound came from a group of underbrush near a small forest. He went through the bush cautiously, wary of any movements. Sasuke reached into his kunai holster, took one out, and held it in front of him, ready to strike as he crept deeper into the forest.

"Someone, please, help!" The noise was straight ahead of him, just a little more.

Sasuke lifted a brow. 'A girl…?'

He picked up his pace. She sounded urgent and it wouldn't look good on his ninja record if a death happened because of him. Closer…there! He parted the bushes, expecting to see a fight brewing but that was not the case. He growled in annoyance. He left his peaceful walk for _this_?

In front of him was a sniffling girl, probably around his age, 12, with…_PINK!_- short hair, donning a red Chinese-styled dress with blue biking shorts. In front of her was a…boar? The peeved animal snorted angrily and beat its hoofs on the ground, a cloud of dirt forming at its legs. It charged, causing the girl to scream.

Wincing at the noise she emitted, Sasuke grabbed the girl and brought her to the side before she was a trampled. Letting her go, he turned back, brandishing his kunai. The offended boar charged at him, to which Sasuke jumped. He turned back to the boar and before it could charge again, stabbed it on the side. A squeal of pain from the boar was heard as the red liquid oozed from the place Sasuke had hit it. The boar, losing the will to fight, turned tail and ran back into the forest.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the petty creature and wiped his kunai on the grass to rid of the blood. He turned to the girl still sprawled on the grass, her arms propping her up. The impassive boy quickly scanned her for injuries. Besides the random grass and twigs in her hair, a few scratches here and there, she was relatively unharmed. Nonetheless, Sasuke decided to be a gentleman.

"You ok?"

The stunned girl blinked and looked at him as if she just realized he was there. "Who…Who are you?"

Sasuke looked at the girl warily, unsure if he should reveal his name. For various reasons. After a period of silence he answered. "…Uchiha Sasuke." Seeing as there was nothing else to be said, he got up and turned to leave but was stopped.

"W-wait!" Sasuke stopped in his tracks, turning to her. An irritated look crossed his features.

"What?" The girl blushed, making him roll his eyes in disgust.

'Greeeeaaat…another fangirl,' Sasuke thought.

She suddenly broke into a huge smile. Standing up, she bowed. "Thank you so much for saving me!"

"Uhh…it was nothing." Sasuke said. Really, it wasn't. A small boar didn't really compare with mist ninjas, millions of hired mercenaries, perverted copy-ninjas, and a hyperactive Kyuubi-vessel.

"Even so!" The girl persisted, a shine in her huge emerald eyes. "I have to repay you! Hmmm…" A thoughtful expression crossed her face as she propped her hand to her face. "Oh yeah! How about _three wishes_?"

What. The. Hell?

Sasuke stared.

And stared.

And stared some more.

Did he just 'save' a crazy girl who thinks she could grant people wishes?

Sasuke turned and started walking away. "Alright, I've heard enough. See you…" 'never.' He added as an afterthought.

The girl blinked at his sudden decline. 'See you…?' "Ah! Wait! But I have to give you three wishes!" When the Uchiha didn't reply, she followed after him. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

-

Sasuke stepped out of the bathroom, clad in only a dark blue shirt, white pjs, and a dark blue towel around his shoulders. His dripping hair was matted on his head, unlike the usual spiky-ness it held. He was in his room, in his house, away from…whatever-her-name-was crazy girl. He plopped on his bed, in deep thought.

'Who _was_ that odd girl? Three wishes? Was she insane?' He shrugged, deciding to forget about it. It wasn't like he was going to see her again, right? 'Probably in my fan club, though…' Sasuke's blood boiled in annoyance at the remembrance of his so called 'fan club'. How he wished he could just sharingan them to oblivion! But, that wouldn't happen because he'll be thrown in jail for killing 2/3's of Konoha's girl population. _Such_ a tragedy that would be. Sasuke was about to fall asleep since it was already 12 o' clock but a voice immediately brought him to reality.

"Hahahaha! That is so funny!" The laughing voice was coming from downstairs.

Was it an intruder? No one really came to the Uchiha compound, so who was that? Naruto or Kakashi were the only people allowed to come in unexpectedly but the voice sounded like a…girl?

Confused, Sasuke slowly crept down the stairs, careful not to make a sound. The ninja in him kicked in and he leapt off the last ten steps or so and landed soundlessly on the marble floor. Inside the living room, the black leather couch was facing the TV and a mass of…_PINK!_- hair was visible from the top.

Another laugh. The girl seemed to be clutching her stomach in pain as another series of laughs controlled her. "Oh my god…oh my god…this is too funny!"

Sasuke was perturbed. He rarely turned on the plasma TV and when he did, it was only to keep the annoying dobe's mouth shut. He crept behind the girl and whipped out a kunai in one hand. 'A good shinobi should always be armed,' was his motto. In one second flat, he grasped her hair, startling the girl, and held the kunai dangerously close to her neck.

"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded. When the girl didn't say anything, he inched the dangerous weapon closer to her peach-colored neck, nicking it slightly and drawing blood. The girl sprang into action.

"Wha-…hey!" The girl yelled, hurting his ears. "What is your problem, Sasuke! Hurting me like that…" His eyes widened as he turned her head to face him. Emerald eyes stared right back at him. Sasuke made the connection…that girl he saved!

"What are you doing here?" Acquaintance or not, one must never trust strangers.

The girl frowned. "Firstly, kindly remove your kunai. It's a dangerous weapon and it could seriously hurt someone! Secondly, yoohoo, remember? I'm supposed to give you three wishes! Until then, I'm stuck with you."

Sasuke withdrew his kunai immediately. She wasn't a threat. "What the hell are you talking about? Wishes? You seriously _are_ mental."

"No I'm not!"

Ignoring her protest, he continued. "I don't care who you are. What gives you the right to intrude on my grounds?"

The girl sighed exasperatedly. "I told you, I can't be separated from you until I give you three wishes!"

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. "Girl…or whoever you are-"

The girl smiled brightly and chirped, "Sakura."

"…right. 'Sakura', you're in need of a psychiatrist. Seriously. Wishes…" he grumbled, still not believing her. "There are no such things are giving wishes! What are you, a genie or something?"

The bubblegum-haired girl smiled. "No, but close to a genie. I just give three wishes, no more, no less. Would you like to hear the rules for wish-making?" She said eagerly, waiting for his answer.

A pause. Then…

"No. You're just a weird dream so I'm going to go to sleep now. I have to wake up early to meet my team." Sasuke stated and walked over to the glass coffee table in front of the couch and hit the 'off' button. With the TV turned off, he began walking back up the stairs.

"Wha-? Weird dream…?" Sakura blinked in surprise. "Hey! Wait up, why don't you believe me!" She demanded, frowning at the brooding boy's constant denial of her existence.

"Because you're claiming to be some sort of 'genie' who grants people three wishes." Sasuke trudged up the steps and entered his room.

"But I'm REAL!" Sakura protested loudly and was about to follow him inside when the door shut in her face and a 'click' sound was heard. "Hey! Sasuke, what are you doing!"

Sasuke ignored the girl outside his room and dug into the covers. After settling down comfortably, he reached out and turned off the light next to the bed. "Good night, 'genie', see you in the morning…not." He muttered, and went to sleep.

-

Outside, Sakura was sour. The nerve of him! She thought he was some sort of gentleman, saving her and all but NOOO. He was just some jerk! Pounding on his door wouldn't make Sasuke believe her, so she decided to just snuggle against the couch.

"Jerk…" Sakura muttered. "Thinks I'm just a weird dream, does he?"

Try as she may, she was uncomfortable with sleeping on a leather couch. She was more accustomed with beds. "Hmm…this won't do. Let's see…" Smirking, Sakura rubbed her hands together. 'Let's work some magic!'

Pointing at her red Chinese-styled dress, which, was covered with dirt and grass-stains, in a blink of an eye it was gone. In its place was a large white shirt, a tad big for her form and lolled to the side and comfy short light-pink cotton pj's with strawberries stamped across.

"Perfect!" She giggled at her change of clothes. "Now…for the couch…" She pointed at the leather couch and in an instant, transformed into a bed-like couch. The couch was more like a bed now; the place where you sit was now flatter and straighter, like a bed. Materializing a pink pillow and a stuffed teddy bear out of thin air, Sakura dove into the couch-bed.

"Ahhh…so comfy!" Sakura gushed, and clapped her hands together, causing the lights to flicker off. She smiled and closed her eyes. Tomorrow was going to be a big day!

"Watch out, new master, I, Haruno Sakura, am going to fulfill your three wishes, whether you like it or not!" With that proclamation said, she contentedly slept in his property.

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SA: Waaaaah! (claps) The first chapter is finito!

Sasuke: …why did you make this story?

Naruto: For once, I agree with Sasuke-teme! It's so stupid! (frown) And when am I coming in!

SA: Because-! …because shut up! (smiles triumphantly)

Sasuke and Naruto: …

Hinata: You're going to be in the next chapter N-Na-Na-Na-Naru-Naru-Naruto-kun…

Sakura: WOW! I'm a genie-person in this story! Awesome…powers…(smile)

Gaara: (blank stare) What am I doing here?

SA: Ah! Our favorite sandy panda has to come to join us, ne?

Gaara: So…what am I here for?

SA: Honestly? No clue! I just stole you from Misashi Kishimoto for a couple of chapters…(grin)

Sakura: (pats him on the back) I feel sorry for you, Gaara. You might want to hold onto your sanity while you're here…SA tends to…(twitch) take it from you if you don't…

SA: Aww! Thank you! I'll take that as a compliment…(grin)

Naruto cast: REVIEW ONEGAI!

Complaints? Suggestions? Comments? Just want to blab anything? GREAT! REVIEW and blab away! Randomness is welcome! (evil crazy laugh)


	2. You're a WHAT!

**Wishful Thinking**

**by: Sakuranime**

Disclaimer: I wish. xD

Wow. I never thought I would get **14 **reviews…(smile) Thankies to ALL reviewers! Getting reviews make me soooooooo HAPPY! I'm glad you guys like this story…though I really have no clue what else to write…THINK, BRAIN THINK!

Also, ( blah ) these things are NOT, I repeat, NOT AUTHORESS'S NOTES! Only when it's a ( AN: blah ). THAT'S an authoress note! Ok? WONDERFUL! On with the story.

"Quotations"

'Thoughts'

(( _Flashbacks_ ))

Chapter 2: You're a WHAT!

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Even in his dream, Sasuke could tell the day would be filled with surprises, ramen, and training. When he woke up, the sun was shining, the birds chirping, the grass was green, the sky was blue…it was a perfect day…for training. The 12-year-old Uchiha did the usual things- wake up, wash his face, brush his teeth, put his clothes on, etc. The usual.

It was a perfect, normal day…until he went downstairs and saw what was on his couch.

"What the hell…?"

A mass of messy, short pink hair covered the face of what Sasuke assumed was a girl. You really couldn't tell _what_ it was under the covers of his deformed couch. He was a mix of fury, confusion, and even more, curious. The dark-haired boy went up to the strange thing and poked her with his finger.

Nothing happened.

He poked again but produced no real reaction. Just a tiny movement of the head and swat with a hand like there was a bothersome fly.

Sasuke poked twice, thrice, four times, five times, and six times.

A yawn and a mumble of, "Cool, a cow…I want a strawberry ice cream…" Hey, at least he was getting somewhere.

He was beginning to get annoyed. Then again, he was always annoyed. Sasuke pushed her unceremoniously off his couch. _That_ got something.

The mess of pink bolted upright immediately. Wide-eyed and fully awake now, she (he could identify it safely as a girl) began screaming, "You'll never take me alive! Never!-…huh?" Sakura blinked owlishly at the boy standing above her.

"_What_ are _you_ still doing here?" Sasuke folded his arms in front of his chest impatiently.

The girl still blinked. "Huh? Who are- OH YEAH!" The sudden volume increase reminded Sasuke of a _very_ loud and obnoxious blonde teammate.

'One who shall not be named…' Sasuke grumbled.

Sakura smacked a fist on an open palm in remembrance. "You're Sasuke, right?" He nodded slowly, wondering if he should confirm at all. "I'm Sakura, remember? I'm supposed to give you three wishes, not leaving you until I do? Remember?"

Sasuke blanched immediately after the name 'Sakura'. It was that crazy girl again! "Who's _property_ do you think you're trespassing on?" He hissed.

"Err…yours?" The girl looked at him innocently. Sasuke resisted the urge to smack his head and say sarcastically, "Great job, you want a biscuit?"

Instead, he said, "Yes…so why are you still here?"

'This again?' Sakura audibly sighed. "I told you, I can't leave you until I fulfill your wishes!"

An eyebrow rose. "What are you talking about?"

"I. Can't. Leave. You." Sakura pronounced each word slowly, making sure the message got through into the Uchiha's mind. "We're bound by magic; I can't leave until you make wishes that you truly want. Meaning: You can't get rid of me just by wishing for a hot dog or whatever." She beamed at his blank stare. "Get it?"

"You…can't leave?" Sasuke asked, his voice hollow. To this the girl bobbed her pink head enthusiastically.

"What the HELL!" Birds flew in a scurry, scared of the raging Uchiha's voice.

-

Ah…the serene, clear waters of the stream gurgled softly; a music melodious to his ears. He could stand at the bridge for hours, just staring at the placid stream. And that's exactly what he did. Stare for hours, leaning on the bridge while he and the dobe waited for their sensei. Their lazy, perverted jounin sensei.

Beside Sasuke, the blonde ninja disturbed his peace by sighed loudly and opening his mouth.

"Ne, Sasuke-teme, where do you think Kakashi-sensei is?" Naruto asked impatiently, his arms on the rail of the bridge, staring at the sky.

He grunted in answer. "How am I supposed to know?"

And so the two boys were in that position for two hours later…until the dreaded man finally had the nerve to show his face. In a POOF, he was in front of the irritated genins, mask crinkled in a smile, lazy eyes closed, another god-awful volume of Itcha Itcha Paradise in his hands, and his famous gravity-defying silver hair.

"Yo!" He raised his hands in friendly greeting.

A twitch from both genins.

Kakashi smiled knowingly but asked the question anways: "Why do you both look so gloomy?"

Sasuke held his composure, but Naruto snapped, being the hyper ninja that he was. He pointed accusingly at the lazy sensei. "Kakashi-sensei! You're LATE!"

The silver-haired jounin put a hand to his chin in a thoughtful position. "Ah, I'm sorry, Naruto! I was on my way here about 3 hours ago but there was this really pretty lady who had a lost dog so what did you expect me to do? I had to help her- she's a damsel in distress-"

"LIAR!" Naruto yelled out of the top of his lungs. A nearby bush rustled and out stepped a ball of rosette hair and emerald eyes.

Sasuke nearly choked at the sight of the girl. 'I thought I told her to stay home! What the hell is she doing here? If I'm seen with her people would ask questions!'

"No, no!" Sakura walked out, in her red dress and blue biking shorts. "That scarecrow-guy is right! He _did_ look for a lost dog- I saw the whole thing!" She pointed to said man and nodded her head.

'Scarecrow-guy!' Kakashi sweat dropped at the nickname.

Naruto blinked in surprise. "Y…You mean Kakashi-sensei didn't lie?" She nodded, her pink locks swishing up and down. "Hey, wait a minute- who are you?" He eyed the girl up and down suspiciously. "I don't remember you in any of the other teams…"

A wide smile crossed her features. "I'm Haruno Sakura! Nice to meet you!" She bowed respectfully at both of them. Sasuke looked away from her, hoping she wouldn't notice him.

Kakashi leaned down and patted the short-haired girl's head. "What's a pretty girl like you doing here?" He asked, his mask crinkling up.

Sakura blushed at the comment. "Uhh, I'm not pretty!"

Naruto immediately opened his mouth. "Of course you are. Ano sa, ano sa! Do you mind if I call you Sakura-chan?"

She nodded at the blonde. "Sure!"

The Kyuubi-vessel smacked his forehead. "Oh yeah. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konohagakure!" Sakura giggled at his wild thinking. Naruto pointed to the tall man. "This is Kakashi-sensei," He greeted her with a smile and a 'Yo!'

The Uchiha was slowly inching away from them to avoid being spotted with the girl, but that was wishful thinking.

Naruto pointed to the leaving Sasuke. "…and that's Sasuke-teme!" He froze, hearing his name and silently prayed for mercy. Unfortunately for him, God was busy.

Sakura's smile widened. "Oh, I already know who that is. He's my master!"

The fox-boy couldn't believe what he was hearing. Sasuke…knows a _girl_? "Whaaaat? Master!"

Kakashi couldn't believe his ears either. His hands were on both cheeks and he looked utterly appalled. "Master? Sasuke, aren't you a little _too_ young for that?"

Sasuke twitched. Of all the teachers…he just _had_ to get Kakashi as a sensei! "Damn pervert…" He muttered darkly, turning to his teammate and teacher. "I don't even know the girl."

The smile on her face never left. "Why, sure you do! Remember? I spent the night at your house." Inside, Sakura was laughing evilly. The moment was _too_ good. She had to get him back for yesterday.

Naruto looked like he just saw a page of Itcha Itcha Paradise. "S-s…s-s-s-sp-spend…the-the…n-n-n…n-night…?" His eyes were like saucers, his entire face going from normal peach to bright red in less than two seconds flat.

The shocked look was still on Kakashi's face, his eyebrows rising with each word uttered by the pink-haired girl. "Wow. You're moving pretty fast, huh?"

It was Sasuke's turn to look speechless. "Wh-what the…wait...NO! Can't you once get your DAMN MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER!" The faint, tiny blush on his cheeks were visible.

"My, my, Sasuke…" Kakashi teased, elbowing the shocked, normally cool and composed ninja like they were old friends. "Going commando already? And on a _young, innocent-looking girl _you just met!" He giggled annoyingly high-pitched like a girl, irking Sasuke even further. Naruto continued to sputter non-real words, opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

Sakura gasped, playing along with the charade. "I…I couldn't resist, Kakashi-san!" She stole a shy look at the appalled boy and added a blush to make it seem real. "He's…just so…HOT!" She burst out laughing, holding her splitting sides. Kakashi tried to restrain himself from laughing but joined her.

"Sa-Sa-Saku-Sakura-ch-chan…not you too!" Naruto half stuttered, half groaned. He thought she wouldn't like Sasuke; the whole female population did, anyways.

If she wasn't dying of laughter, Sakura would have smacked the blonde boy on the head. Of course, she couldn't. She was rolling on the ground, regardless of her dress getting dirty. The look on Sasuke's face was too funny. His eyes looked huge and round, mouth agape, no words coming out; blushing scarlet so much she thought he would explode. You don't see _that_ expression on the Uchiha Sasuke at all.

Naruto snapped out of his stupor. The moment he laid eyes on Sasuke's expression, he burst out laughing raucously, all the while pointing at him and tears coming out of his eyes. Yup. You do NOT see _that_ expression on him at all!

Sakura gasped for breath after finishing laughing. A hand held her stomach as she tried to calm herself. "Oh my god…the look on your face- priceless!" She continued to laugh some more. "God, I should have brought a camera for blackmail purposes…"

The silver-haired jounin chuckled and patted Sasuke good-naturedly on the back. "It was just a joke, Sasuke."

His face was still burning from embarrassment. Uchiha Sasuke? _Embarrassed?_ That was new. "A…j-joke?" Sasuke managed to choke out. Whoa. Uchiha Sasuke, ice prince extraordinaire, _stuttering?_ The world was definitely coming to an end.

Sakura smiled wickedly at him. "That's for not believing me yesterday at your house."

Naruto's eyes widened, if they could anymore. "You mean…that wasn't a _joke_!"

She shook her head in amusement. "Nope. I was at his house."

"Why was that, Sakura?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow. He also thought she was kidding.

"You see, Kakashi-san-" She began, but he interrupted, shaking his head in disapproval.

"Kakashi-_sensei_, please. The other way sounds too old." Said man said with a scratch to his head. Sakura nodded, smiling broadly.

"You see, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura started again. Sasuke was still recovering from the earlier emotional shock that he didn't stop her from blurting their embarrassing, and ridiculous, connection. "I was attacked by this wild boar and Sasuke saved me." Naruto's eyebrows rose at this.

"Sasuke-teme? Saving people? That's weird…" He muttered. Then he shielded his head as if expecting a strike from Sasuke. Nothing came though.

"Anyways, I had to repay him back. So I told him I would grant him three wishes!" Sakura grinned like a child who had just been told a secret. But that immediately turned into a pout. The sudden changes in emotions startled the two. She was one weird creature. "But that jerk didn't believe me when I told him I could grant him wishes. _Then_ I told him I couldn't leave him until I fulfilled my duty but he didn't believe that either. Can you believe the nerve of that?" She scoffed, crossing her arms in front of her.

Sakura expected some kind of reaction from the new-found friends but got none.

Silence.

Then…

"Wahahaaaa! You can grant wishes? That's the strangest thing I've heard!" Naruto laughed out loud again, holding on the bridge railing for support lest he fall into the water.

Sasuke recovered, though traces of a blush were still evident. "That's what I told that stupid Pinky…" He grumbled under his breath.

Sakura huffed, hearing this. "UCHIHA SASUKE I AM NOT A 'PINKY'! And I'm telling you the truth!" He winced. Her voice was so annoying…much like someone else's.

Kakashi coughed, getting the two genins and one girl's attention to him. "So…you're saying you're a genie?" He said lazily, like he didn't believe her either.

She shook her head. "No, I'm not a genie, I'm sort of like one. There really isn't a specific name for me. I guess you could call me a genie, fairy, spirit, or even a deity!" Her eyes sparkled at the last part. "Yup, I'm a goddess!"

Naruto brought the girl back into the present. "Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa WHOA. Back it up. So you're saying…you're a…a…a…" He groped for the appropriate words.

"Genie-fairy-spirit-deity?" Sakura supplied for him, perfectly calm about this. They made it seem like it was some new phenomenon, from the way the three guys were looking at her!

The fox-boy nodded rapidly. "A…genie-fairy-spirit-deity?"

"Yup! Haruno Sakura. I'm a genie-fairy-spirit-deity, at your service!" The childish pink-head bowed dramatically.

Naruto suddenly laughed, smacking Sakura on the back like some drunken partner. "Hahaha! You almost got me there, Sakura-chan! A genie-fairy-spirit-deity…hah, good one!" Sasuke rolled his eyes at his so-called teammate's behavior. He saw nothing comical about that joke.

'I don't believe she's…whatever she's calling herself either…' Sasuke thought, staring at the laughing Naruto.

Sakura looked confused. What was so funny about the truth? "Uhh, Naruto? But I AM a genie-fairy-spirit-deity!" He stopped laughing, much to everyone's relief. His voice was getting annoyingly loud.

"Sakura-chan? It's not funny anymore…" Naruto said nervously to the girl.

Sasuke rolled his eyes skyward. "It was never funny in the first place…dobe." He added as an afterthought.

"Sasuke-teme, stop calling me DEAD-LAST!" Naruto shouted, pointing at the nonchalant raven-haired heartthrob.

"But…I'm telling you, I really am a genie-fairy-spirit-deity." Sakura said firmly, wondering why this was so hard to explain. "What's so funny about the TRUTH?"

Crickets chirped. Odd, it was still the morning. Don't they come out at night?

"You're a WHAT!"

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Author Responds!

cuito: YAY! Thanks for thinking it's cute…(smile) BTW, your stories are AWESOME. (starry eyes)

star c: Awww, really? Thank you! You should really make a account. (smile) Then try making stories of your own too…then I'll review them! Mwahaha!

pei-chan: Funny? Mission accomplished for me, then. LOL. I was thinking about that scene too…hope you didn't think the scene sucked…(pout)

koca kola: Another funny comment! Thankies! Honestly, I don't know what Sasuke's going to wish for…xD

lexy499: Good start? THANK YOU! Hey…didn't you review my other story (lessons she taught me)? WOW! You're reading this one too! I feel so loved…(happy tears)

left-alone: Thank you! Whoa, Chinese movie? Lol, never would have guessed!

Chibiaddicted: GASP! My story is…original? (tears) But yeah, I knew that…xD I will keep up the good work for the sake of my fans! YAY.

Son of Darkness: LOL, thankies for the comments! Yeah…Sasuke's thought are funny but don't you think he's a tad OOC? I think so…darn! I wanted to try and make him in char. as close as possible…ah wells! At least the readers like it. Here's the next chapter, as requested!

drunkdragon: There's a lot of fics like this one EVERYWHERE! But definitely not written by me! This is the first one of it's kind I'm writing…thankies for reading and reviewing, anyways!

…: I'M NOT PLAGIARIZING! AND YOU EVEN SPELLED IT WRONG SO HAH! I'm SO SORRY, but I didn't know there was another story like this one! If it makes YOU happy, I changed the title. SO HAH! (smile) But thanks anyways for even reading the story even if you didn't like it! BTW, did you read the NOTE chapter?

Black Finality: Ah, a demanding reader…GREAT! xD It shows you really like my story! I'M SO GLAD! (sighs happily)

Iluvanime493: Thank you, I can't wait for the next chappy either! (giggles evilly) LOL. I don't think it's going to be a love triangle though…TTTT It's going to be Sasu/Saku, if you checked my penname! (I mentioned it there!)

: Not EXACTLY alike though…I saw the summary for it because I got a OMFG-YOU-PLAGIARIZED! review…(boohoo) Sakura comes in a CAN in that one! FOR GOD'S SAKE…it's Where millions and trillions of people write fanficts…hey- there's bound to be ONE similar one, right? BTW, read the NOTE chapter if you're mad at me…aw poo. I'm so SORRY!

**FOR EVERYONE WHO DIDN'T READ THE AUTHORESS'S NOTE CHAPTER…GO. READ. IT. NOW! **

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

…the purple button _right down there_ is begging you to click it…with _puppy dog eyes_…YOU CAN'T RESIST THE POWER OF THE PUPPY DOG EYES!

Complaints? Suggestions? Comments? Just want to blab anything? GREAT! REVIEW and blab away! Randomness is welcome! (evil crazy laugh)


	3. Ramen, anyone?

**Wishful Thinking**

**by: Sakuranime**

Disclaimer: I'm going to ask Santa for Naruto on Christmas…D Until then…nope…(boohoo)

HOLY SHIT ON A STICK! **28 REVIEWS**…! I LOVE YOU GUYS…(tear tear) WOW! I got a lot of reviews…and…that…makes…me…so…HAPPY…! (sigh) I can die happily now…but that wouldn't be good, who would continue the story? LOL. I got a review from **ang3lix**, and I want to give a shout-out (NOT fox box) to her and say…HAPPY B-DAY! JKJK! Actually, I want to say **THANK YOU FROM THE DEEPEST PART OF MY HEART! **You've inspired me to continue writing this story and not delete it, so THANK YOU OH SO MUCH! (smile) See how much a few words could do?

THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOO MUCH! I think your stories are FANTASTIC…so don't take nasty remarks from reviewers! It's not your fault computers being gay or you can't think of what to write next…I get that a lot xD! Again, THANK YOU!

Review and ENJOY!

"Quotations"

'Thoughts'

(( _Flashbacks_ ))

Chapter 3: Ramen, anyone?

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Normally, one would explain something in great detail to one who doesn't understand you. That's what _normal_ people would do. Tragically for Naruto, this was Sakura the genie-fairy-spirit-deity we're talking about. And she _wasn't_ normal.

Sakura took the gaping fox-boy by the ear and brought him closer to her. Naruto's eyes widened even further, if possible, and he asked nervously, "Uh…Sakura-chan? Wh-wh-what are you d-doing?"

Sasuke's eyebrows rose. 'Is she going to _kiss_ him!'

Naruto's face was now inches away from Sakura's smiling lips…centimeters away…

He began to sweat but didn't pull away from her grip. "S-S-Sa-Sakura-chan…? What-?" A playful spark went through Sakura's eyes, making him even more nervous. Sasuke twitched. What was she going to do?

Millimeters away… Naruto could feel her breath caressing his lips…

'This is just like a Icha Icha Paradise movie!' Kakashi giggled inwardly. He always got this fluttery feeling in his stomach whenever he thought about his favorite manga. A habit he picked up from somewhere.

Sasuke was twitching uncontrollably now and he didn't know why. 'WHAT is that dobe think he is doing!' He demanded silently, watching as Sakura's lips were a mere millimeter away from Naruto's. The brooding boy seethed even more as Naruto closed his eyes and puckered his lips to welcome the 'kiss' he was about to experience…

Suddenly, Sakura turned Naruto's face around, startling everyone, so that his ear was in front of her mouth and shouted sharply.

"I'M A GENIE-FAIRY-SPIRIT-DEITY! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU! GEEZ, ARE YOU ALWAYS THIS UNBELIEVABLE!" The pink-haired girl said, err, _shouted_ in one breath. When Sakura was done, she inhaled, taking huge gulps of air.

Naruto howled in pain, clutching his ear as Sakura let go of her vice-like-grip. "AHHH! MY EARS! THEY HURT SO MUCH!"

Sasuke closed his eyes and exhaled, suddenly relieved. 'Relieved of what?' He wondered, but didn't have time to conjure an answer because of the orange-clad-Konoha-village-idiot. "Naruto, shut up." He said gruffly, stuffing his hands into his pockets, an annoyed look on his face once again.

"HUH? WHAT DID YOU SAY SASUKE-TEME?" Naruto yelled, a bit too loudly for the rest of Team 7 plus Sakura's taste.

Kakashi chuckled, resuming his reading of Icha Icha Paradise. "Looks like Naruto has a temporary dose of deafness."

"Ah…whoops." Sakura laughed nervously, a hand on her head. "I guess I yelled a teensy-weensy-itty-bitty-jumpy-lumpy-munchy-crunchy-teeny-weeny," Sasuke stared at the girl's choice of words. Was she educated or not? "_too_ much…heh."

"WHAAAAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU GUYS! WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!" The annoying loud voice of the great Uzumaki Naruto cut through the air like a hot knife through butter.

"Shut _up_, dobe." Sasuke gritted his teeth. His cool was about to fall any moment now.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto!" Sakura apologized and bowed. 'Ah…I'm supposed to be a genie-spirit-fairy-deity thing! Which means, grant wishes…not make innocent people deaf!'

Naruto cupped his ear and with a questioning look on his face yelled, "WHAT DID YOU SAY!"

Sakura took a deep breath. "I SAID I'M SORRY!" She screamed, making Kakashi and Sasuke wince in displeasure.

"WHAT!"

"I'M SORRY!"

'Their voices rival each other…' Sasuke grumbled. 'Why the hell are they so annoying!'

Kakashi gave a fake-apologetic look to Sasuke, putting away his book. "Sorry, Sasuke but I have no intention of going deaf so I leave them in your hands now!"

Sasuke seethed, wanting to murder the man who was their 'teacher'. "Wait…you're leaving me with _them_!" He demanded, pointing at the two yelling each other's asses off. Kakashi nodded. Again with the apologetic look. "But what about training?" He sputtered, hoping for another way to get away from them.

The scarecrow waved lazily, turning around. "Training's cancelled for today. Take a day off and do something." Before he had a chance to protest, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the boy stunned.

"SAKURA-CHAN, I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Naruto shouted, a puzzled look on his face.

She growled. "I SAID I'M SORRY!"

Sasuke slowly turned around, a horrified expression on his face. 'Damn him! Leaving me with these two nut-jobs…I swear I'm going to kill him someday…'

"WHAT!"

"DAMNIT, CAN'T YOU TAKE AN APOLOGY!"

The sole-insanity-surviving Uchiha twitched uncontrollably. What the hell was he supposed to do with these two? Ah well, as the saying went: If all else fails, seek Ichiraku.

-

The sound of customers made the ramen owner turn from his cooking and a smile lit up his face.

"Welcome to Ichiraku, what will your order-" He stared, wide-eyed at the trio who just entered his beloved shop.

An impassive Uchiha with a murderous look on his face, one screaming blonde, Naruto, and a pink-headed girl whom he never saw was shouting back.

"WHY CAN'T I HEAR YOU, SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto's features lit up at the sight of his favorite store, Ichiraku, but that didn't stop him from holding his large mouth. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME?"

The fox-boy swore he saw smoke streaming out of her ears as she replied in equal volume. "I ACCIDENTLY SHOUTED TOO HARD! I'M SORRY!"

The ramen owner looked nervously at them, wondering why today had to be the way when he got lunatic customers. Fortunately, one was still sane.

"Three miso ramen." Sasuke said curtly, not wasting any breath. Normally he wouldn't order the same thing with the dobe but today was different. _Way_ different. 'Now how am I supposed to train…?' The ramen owner nodded turned around and disappeared into the back of the stall to get their orders.

Sasuke massaged his temples while the two had a screaming battle royale. Never in his life did he hear anyone make so much noise, not even the dobe.

"WHAT?"

"I'M SORRY, DAMNIT!"

"WHAT! YOU'RE SOGGY?"

"NO!"

"LOW?"

"NO!"

"FLOW?"

Just then, Team 10 walked in, parading in Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji. Upon sighting the brooding boy, Ino automatically did what was logical to her girl brain…hug him.

"Hey, Sasuke!" Ino's girlish voice squealed.

Sasuke twitched. God. Another annoying sound. "Get. Off. Me. Ino." Either she was deaf, ignorant of the pent-up-rage Sasuke, or didn't want to, she didn't get off.

Ino pouted, an attempt to swoon him. "Aww, but why?" The lazy ninja grabbed her arm and pulled the surprised kunoichi off of Sasuke, getting a grateful look from him.

"I think he _really_ wants you to get off, Ino." Shikamaru grabbed a seat in between Sasuke and her. Choji, after finishing his bag of chips, miraculously produced another out of nowhere and began eating those.

"WHAT?"

"I'M. SORRY! IS THAT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND!"

Shikamaru craned his neck past Sasuke and saw the reasons for the screams. "It seems Naruto is here too…" He mumbled lazily. "But who's that other girl? I never saw her before…"

Closing his eyes, Sasuke prayed to whatever magical being was out there (right next to him). 'Please no…I really don't want to be seen with her around…'

"What?" Ino snapped her head up from staring at Sasuke at the sound of 'girl'. "There's a girl with _Sasuke_?" A jealous look overcame her as she stalked over to the yelling duo. Ino tapped Sakura on the shoulder, getting her milli-second attention.

"I'M SOR- huh?" Sakura looked up at the blue-eyed blonde. "Who are you?"

Ino jabbed a finger at herself. "_I'm_ Yamanaka Ino, future wife of Sasuke!" The pink-haired girl's eyes widened, gaining a smirk from her. "Jealous, huh? Well too bad, because he's mine!"

Sakura shook her head. "I'm not jealous-"

"What!" Ino looked at her strangely. "How can you not be? I mean, he's hot, and smart, and-" Sasuke didn't bother even thanking her for the compliments. He just ignored her.

"Yeah, he is all those things…" Sakura agreed a dreamy look on her face, making Sasuke almost fall off his chair. "But he's such a JERK!"

"Huh? Who's a jerk?" Naruto asked, a pinky wiggling in his ear.

The bubblegum-haired girl gasped in surprise and hugged him. "Naruto! You're not deaf anymore!" The blonde blushed at the close proximity with the cute otherworldly being. Neither of them could hear the growl escaping Sasuke's lips.

"Huh? Who's deaf?" Kiba walked into the stall, Hinata and Shino in tow right behind him. Akamaru barked in question as well.

Hinata was twiddling her thumbs nervously. She stole a shy glance toward her favorite blond, Naruto, and almost shrieked in surprise. 'N-Naruto and s-some…_girl_!'

'Great…more idiots…' Sasuke grumbled. Could his day get any worse? Unfortunately, he asked too soon. Neji and his team soon followed into the stall, looking impassive as always.

"Hey Ino, Hinata!" Tenten smiled at them and vice versa.

Neji grunted in greeting. Shikamaru raised his hand in acknowledgement, Kiba grinned toothily, Chouji paused from his munching to wave, Naruto shouted a 'HI!', and Sasuke gave the slightest motion of a nod. In contrast, Lee was quite the opposite, giving everyone a cheery, 'YOSH! The flames of youth are eternal!'

The bowl-cut-haired taijutsu specialist gasped at the sight of the 'innocent-looking' pink-haired girl, catching everyone's attention. Dramatically, he got down on one knee and took Sakura's hand as if proposing to her. "Dear pink-haired girl, what is your name?" Lee's gentleman antics caused a blush to come forth from her cheeks. Sakura couldn't reply. She just stared at his creepy eyebrows. Odd, they reminded her of a caterpillar doing the 'worm'.

"Oi, Sasuke. Who's the girl?" Kiba nodded his head toward Sakura, who Lee had just released her hand from, much to her relief.

Ino put her hands to her hips. "That's what I want to know too."

Sakura beamed, a big smile plastered on her face. "I'm Haruno Sakura, a spi-" A hand muffled her next words. Her big emerald eyes looked up to find Sasuke's murderous glare that read, _tell them and I'll kill you slowly, horribly, and painfully._ She pouted and stuck her tongue out but complied, leaving the others puzzled by the silent exchange of words.

"She's my sister." Sasuke supplied quickly. 'Smooth Uchiha, smooth.' His inner self scoffed at his attempt as a cover up.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, leaning against the table. "She doesn't look anything like you…" He took a closer look at the girl. "Bright green eyes and short pink hair…" His lazy eyes turned to Sasuke. "while _you_, on the other hand, have onyx eyes and black hair…I think I speak for everyone here that you guys look **nothing** alike…"

'Damn smart-ass Nara!' Sasuke inwardly smacked himself. 'The differences were so obvious anyway…even dobe could figure that out…'

"But Sasuke, I thought Sakura-chan was-" Before Naruto had a chance to ruin his reputation unintentionally, Sasuke whacked him on the head.

"-_my sister_. Sakura is my sister. _Nothing else. Right_, Naruto?" Sharp onyx eyes flashed at the blonde, getting the message through. Naruto rubbed his head, wincing at the occasional pain. His mouth turned into an 'o' shape and he nodded rapidly, giving him a thumbs up. This did not bode well.

"I thought that everyone was wiped out during the Uchiha-" Tenten stopped herself immediately, catching the shifting glance of the sole remaining Uchiha. The chocolate-haired girl knew had she uttered the words, she would be a disgusting mess on the ground. She coughed apologetically, "well, you know."

Oddly, Shino contributed to this controversy, "If Sakura-san is indeed Uchiha's sister, shouldn't we have seen her at the Ninja Academy? And if it was because she was under personal tutelage, what about three-man cells?"

Ino glanced at the pink-haired girl who just smiled back. She exchanged glances with everyone else in the room: Chouji, Shikamaru, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Neji, Lee and Tenten. They nodded. They didn't believe it either. "I don't believe it for a second! As much as I dislike it, Shikamaru's right," A 'hey!' from the lazy ninja was heard but Ino took no notice of it, "she doesn't look anything like you."

Sasuke gritted his teeth, wishing he could be anywhere but here. They just _had_ to be nosy and ask questions?

"No, no! Sakura-chan is…" Naruto took up a thoughtful position, making him look funny. "a long, long, long, _long_ lost sister!" A triumphant grin crossed his features as everyone exchanged disbelief looks. Sasuke visibly paled. He knew it. A grinning Naruto was **not**good news.

He continued, the grin like he knew something everyone else didn't was intact. "Also, she's from the sand village!" Sasuke was sending glares at him but, being the resilient fellow he is, Naruto decided to ignore it.

"W-well, that w-would explain w-why w-we don't kn-know Sakura-san…" Hinata stammered, wanting to believe the new girl and her Naruto-kun did not have something going on. Murmurs of agreements wavered through the small crowd, otherwise known as teams 10, 8 and 9.

Sakura held up a hand. "Please! Call me Sakura!" Hinata blushed, making her smile.

The stupid grin was _still_ on Naruto's face. "Sakura-chan was raised there by a grandma and grandpa who had no children of their own. But it was so tragic…recently, the people who raised her died protecting her from bandits so she was orphaned. Now, Sakura-chan has come to Konoha in search of her long, long, long, _long_, brother, Sasuke-teme!" He gestured to the raven-haired boy. The murderous glare never left Sasuke's face. That idiot was really getting into this, telling a lie like that! Surely, they were too smart to fall for that load of crap? Kakashi could even come up with something better.

Hinata gasped, ashamed of her previous assumption. "I-I'm so s-sorry for your loss, Sakura-sa-…I mean, Sakura…" She bowed apologetically, her face filled with sadness for the pink-haired girl.

Sakura blinked in surprise. "My…loss?" She looked at Naruto for an explanation and was met with a grin so big, it threatened to split his mouth apart. "Oh! Yeah…" She cast her eyes down, letting her pink locks shadow her face, "I only knew them for the majority of my life…then they just…" Her voice started to crack. She lifted her head up, revealing glossy eyes and tears threatening to fall. Sasuke and Naruto were…to put it simply, _amazed_. Though Sasuke wouldn't admit it out loud, she was a good actor. "they just…disappeared."

The audience were enraptured by the girl's tragic tale. Neji's eyes flickered, feeling he could relate to her. Tenten was on the verge of tears, Shino shuffled uncomfortably, Lee's eyes were burning in rage for the 'killers of Sakura's caretakers', the usual laid-back expression was gone from Shikamaru's face, Akamaru yipped in sorrow, and was hushed by an equally saddened Kiba, Hinata gasped and covered her mouth with her hands, Ino looked ashamed of herself, and even Chouji has stopped eating, unable to savor the chips he was eating.

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan…" Ino bit her lip, "I was rude to you before, saying stuff about you and Sasuke-kun...I'm really sorry…will you forgive me?"

Sakura sniffled and wiped away the small tears, "It's alright…you didn't know, none of you did. I woke up one morning and they were gone. Just gone. Completely vanishing from my life…I only wished I was able to say how much I appreciated them for all the things they did for me…"

It was as if she was a completely different person! 'Well, that's what acting does to you…' Sasuke thought, still unable to come out of his stupor. Who knew the pink-haired, hyperactive, spirit-like, bubbly girl could lie, much less _act_? She had acting skills good enough to make even Neji, Shino, and Shikamaru believe her! Those three, aside from him, were smarter than that to be taken in by some random girl's words.

"But I'm not going to dwell on the past!" Sakura suddenly resolved, face cleaned from all traces of sadness, "I haven't really gotten a chance to know your names…" She grinned, taking everyone aback. A second ago she was pouring her soul out to them and now she was grinning!

Naruto broke into his everlasting smile. "You already know me, Sakura-chan, right?" She nodded, bobbing her head up and down with that smile of hers.

"Yup! Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konoha!" She recited, giggling.

Tenten stepped forward, extending her hand, "Hi! I'm Tenten Kunai, (A/N: I don't know what else to put as her last name…gah!) but just call me Tenten. I'm the weapons specialist of the group." Sakura took her hand and shook it enthusiastically.

"Hiya Tenten! Weapons, huh? I think we'll get along just fine…" A grin lifted up a corner of her mouth, making the brown-haired girl lift an eyebrow.

"Oh? How so?" She asked.

Sakura smiled and leaned into her ear and whispered something inaudible to everyone but Tenten. Everyone's curiosity perked up when they heard the chocolate-haired girl shout, "NO WAY! Are you serious!"

The pink-haired girl stuck her tongue out, giggling. She nodded, causing another outburst from Tenten.

"What is it, Tenten?" Lee asked, curious. Everyone leaned in as well, wanting to know what caused the normally calm girl to suddenly explode in excitement.

"Sakura- may I call you that?" Tenten quickly asked, glee written all over her face. A nod from the pink-head and she continued, "Sakura trained a bit from Shuusuke Himura! _The _Shuusuke Himura! Can you believe that?" The excitement was barely contained from her voice.

Blank looks were given to her, making the weapons specialist groan in aggravation. "You guys don't know_ the_ Shuusuke Himura?"

Lee blinked, making the trademark caterpillar-brows of his move, "The way you make it sound, he sounds like a famous guy."

Tenten rolled her eyes and said dryly, "He's only the most famous weapon's master in _all of the hidden villages_."

"Oh, you mean _that_ Shuusuke Himura?" Shikamaru blinked in surprise, "We read a bit about him during one of Iruka-sensei's classes." A lot of 'oh's was heard from the teams.

"Yes!" Tenten's eyes lit up again, "Shuusuke Himura uses all types of weapons- shuriken, kunai, scythes, knives, daggers, katanas, maces, flails, and other blades. They say he has never missed _once_!"

"Not really, Tenten," Sakura's voice got everyone's attention, "he did miss _once_…" A mischievous smirk appeared on her face, making them shudder involuntarily. What happened to the innocent-looking girl a moment ago? "It was around nighttime and I just finished training under him so we decided to hit the hot springs," Looks were thrown at her, causing her to turn crimson. "In _separate_ areas, perverts!" They blushed, and she continued. "I doubt you also heard he was…_handsome_, right, Tenten?"

Tenten's eyes widened, a blush splashed color on her cheeks, "He…he was?" Sakura swore on her job as a spirit (you know the rest) that the boy with the weird white eyes standing beside Tenten shuffled uncomfortably.

"_Super duper absolutely drop-dead_ gorgeous!" Sakura exclaimed, causing the girls to look astonished while the boys gave an 'hmph'.

Ino scoffed, "He's not as good-looking as Sasuke-kun, though."

"But he is!" Once again, the bubble-gum haired girl managed to capture their attention. Well, more so the girls. "Anyways, these three ladies wanted to have a _peek_ at him while he was in the hot spring…" She giggled, "Shuu-kun, being the weapons master he is, thought it was an enemy attack and threw all sorts of sharp objects at them. The women screamed, and jumped out of the bushes. The weapons would have hit them if Shuu-kun didn't attach them with lines of charka." Sakura burst out laughing, "So technically, he _did_ miss once."

Tenten smiled enviously at Sakura, "True, but he's still the one and only Shuusuke Himura, weapons' man extraordinaire! And I can't believe you trained under him!" Stars were literally in her eyes, "Shuusuke Himura _never_ accepts apprentices…not even me!"

Sakura had to reach up a bit to pat the groaning girl's back since she was shorter than Tenten, "It's alright, Tenten, you'll probably train under better weapons masters besides Shuu-kun! And don't worry, I can tell you're really strong at throwing projectiles." Her wide smile was infectious and caused one to spread across Tenten's face as well.

Before she had time to ask, Lee stepped up and made a pose, much similar to Gai's, "Sakura-san! I am the green beast of Konoha, Rock Lee!" His teeth shone brightly with a 'ting!' making everyone wonder where the hell he got sunlight…they were in a stall! (A/N: Forget there was light inside the stall…)

"Ahhh! The blinding sun!" Sakura covered her eyes with her hands, "My eyes! My eyes! THEY BURN!" Everyone sweat dropped, debating briefly the sudden change from mischievous, adept in weapon-throwing, to…innocent? She was even weirder than _Naruto_, and that was saying many things.

Sasuke shook his head, wishing he never wanted her to revert back to a child. He began to have a little more respect after hearing she trained under _the_ Shuusuke Himura but alas. He took her hands off her face, revealing her blinking green orbs.

"Huh? Sasuke?"

"You'll get used to it…" The unemotional boy said and stuffed his hands back into his pocket.

Sakura blinked some more, "You're right! The black dots are disappearing!" Sasuke rolled his eyes, something he was doing a lot today. "Sooooo…where were we? Oh yeah, Lee-san!" She bowed to the bowl-cut boy, "Nice to meet ya, I'm Haruno Sakura!"

"No, no! The pleasure is all mine, sweet cherry blossom," Lee said and again dramatically got down on one knee like he was proposing. Sakura got a very bad feeling about this.

"Will you go out with me?" As soon as the words left his lips, Naruto (much to Hinata's dismay) and surprisingly, Sasuke, had launched attacks on the poor green-spandex-wearing Lee. Naruto's foot bashed his head, while Sasuke's fist connected with his head. Lee staggered back in surprise, caught off-guard by the sudden attacks and was caught by an equally surprised Tenten.

Naruto jabbed a thumb at his chest, "Hey! Sakura-chan's with me, got that bushy-brows?" A fist instantly sent the fox-boy tumbling to the floor.

"I'M NOT YOURS NARUTO!" Sakura cracked her fist, fire in her eyes. Then she ran to Lee's side, "Lee-san! Are you ok?" The fire in her eyes replaced by a worried expression.

"Dear flower…" Lee coughed, once again playing the drama-queen, "I'm afraid…I can't…go on…" He coughed some more, making Sakura even more worried.

"I'm so sorry! If only Naruto didn't…" She faltered in her words. In her arms was a dying shinobi, and she felt terrible. Everyone's eyebrows twitched. She fell for Lee's drama-act? What sort of idiot falls for a horrible actor pretending to die?

Lee coughed again, "It's alright…my time draws to an end-"

"Come on, stop pretending Lee!" A sharp kick on the side from Tenten caused him to yell, "OUCH!" He sprang up, the traces of near-death gone.

Sakura's anime-huge eyes were in place, still on positioned on the ground. She stared at the two friends yelling at each other. Well, one scolding and the other protesting.

"But Tenten! I was about to get a kiss from her!" Lee said, tears about to spring from his eyes.

"No buts!" Tenten smacked him on the head lightly, "I can't believe you would to that to a girl who you just met! And she's _Sasuke's sister_!"

Sasuke's head sprang up at the sound of 'Sasuke's sister'. He had a sister? 'Oh yeah…' He glanced at the pink-haired, still on the floor. 'She's pretending to be my sister…' For some reason an odd feeling crossed his stomach but, being the Uchiha he was, brushed it off.

A hand extended towards the still wide-eyed Sakura. She traced the arm back to the owner and found it to be the one with long brown hair and white eyes. Sakura beamed and took the hand, to which she got up.

"Hi! I'm Sakura, what's your name?" The ever-bouncing girl asked.

He grunted an inaudible answer. Sakura leaned in, hand cupped around her ear, "What?"

"…Hyuuga Neji," He grunted again, and this time she heard. Sakura grabbed his hand and shook it rapidly.

"It's nice to meet ya, Neji-san!" She bowed and looked directly into his eyes. Neji waited for the inevitable flinch but there was none. Sakura, the smile still on her face, looked deeply into his white eyes.

She giggled, breaking eye contact, "Your eyes are pretty!" Everyone nearly choked on their own saliva. Thank god she didn't say 'Neji' and 'pretty' in the same sentence or she'll be a pile of goo on the floor. But that didn't mean the Hyuuga wouldn't proceed to it anyways.

Silence overtook the ninja's, aside from the smiling innocently Sakura.

A twitch from Neji.

They braced themselves.

The pearl-eyed Hyuuga opened his mouth, most likely to yell his byakugan move.

"…thank you, Haruno-san," Neji said calmly. Everyone's jaw hit the ground. With wide eyes, they saw Sakura reply back, "No, no! Call me 'Sakura'!"

He didn't kill her? She isn't dead?

Neji nodded slowly, "Alright…Sakura."

The world has officially gone insane.

"And who are you?" Sakura asked the dog in Kiba's hands. She scratched him behind the ears, to which Akamaru growled in happiness. She giggled.

"I'm Inuzuka Kiba, but call me Kiba," The one with red marks on his cheek stated, "and this here," he held up the dog, "is Akamaru, my dog." He smiled, baring his teeth oddly shaped like fangs.

Sakura shook Kiba's hand, "Cool! You have fangs like a dog!" She smiled, and shook Akamaru's paw, "Nice to meet ya, Akamaru! I'm Sakura!" The dog yipped, in reply. She blushed.

"Thank you, Akamaru!" Sakura replied.

Kiba blinked in surprise, "You can understand him?"

"Yeah, he said, 'You're pretty,'" She bowed to the dog, "And you're handsome, Akamaru-san."

"Wow!" She turned her attention to the boy with the large trench coat. His black shades prevented anyone from seeing his eyes. "You must be from the Aburame clan! It's so good to meet ya!"

Shino raised a brow, "You know me?"

Sakura shook her head, "Nope, but I could tell you're from the Aburame clan. They usually wear large concealing clothes so no one can see the Kikai bugs."

"You know a lot about our clan…" Shino said quietly. He was never much of a talker. "Like you know, I'm from the Aburame clan. My name is Shino."

"H-h-h-he-hello, S-S-Sakura…" Hinata's shy voice found its way to Sakura's ear, "I'm H-H-Hyuuga…H-Hina-Hinata…" She stuttered, a blush staining her cheeks from embarrassment.

Sakura laughed, "Breathe, Hinata! There's no need to stutter, it's not like we're in a class or anything! Anyways, it's nice to meet ya!" She noticed the identical eyes between Neji and her. "Your eyes look exactly like Neji-sans…" Sakura took a closer look, "are you related?"

Hinata nodded, grasping her hands together, "Yes…we're related." Neji grunted in response.

"Like a brother?" Sakura asked.

The shy Hyuuga shook her head, "N-no, he's n-not my b-b-brother…"

"Oh," Sakura's eyes looked down but she looked back up into Hinata's eyes, "well, at least you have someone who's related to you!" She smiled at Sasuke who was taken aback. What was that smile supposed to mean?

Sasuke smacked himself again. He forgot she was 'related' to him! Good god, where was the Uchiha in him going? He was a prodigy for God's sake.

Sakura faced the blonde-haired girl's team and smiled, "As you know, I'm Haruno Sakura!"

This time, Ino didn't look at her with contempt and instead extended a hand toward the girl, "I'm Yamanaka Ino, but you can call me Ino-chan." She smiled as Sakura took her hand, "it's nice to meet you, Sakura-chan."

Ino glanced at the two teammates beside her and sighed, "This is Choji," she gestured to the large boy next to her, a new bag of chips in his hand, "he'll eat anything and I mean _anything_." Sakura giggled and waved at the pig.

She gestured to the dark-haired ninja with a high ponytail, "This is Shikamaru," Ino leaned into Sakura's ear, "I admit he's extremely smart but he's also the laziest ninja you'll ever meet." Shikamaru gave a slight wave to which Sakura returned.

"Well, that sums just about everyone!" Sakura announced, clapping her hands, "Oh! I almost forgot! Sasuke."

The lone Uchiha stared at her, "What?"

"Well…? Tell me about yourself!" Sakura said, huffing, "everyone else did! Even when we first met I didn't get anything out of you except your name."

Sasuke gave her an irritable scowl, "I don't need to tell you anything."

The pink-head growled. Then the corners of her mouth upturned quite rapidly…_too_ rapidly for the Uchiha's taste. "But I thought I was your _sister_…"

Sasuke cursed under his breath. Damn this girl, coming out of nowhere and ruining his normal life. Now what? He just says, 'I'm an avenger. My older brother killed off my entire clan and now I have to take revenge?' No. He wasn't going to tell that to a total stranger, pretend sister or not.

So he opted for a different answer," I dislike sweets."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Great, next time I'll make sure to bring you a basketful of chocolate…"

"Sorry, but I like my privacy," Sasuke grumbled lowly.

The pink-haired girl let out an exasperated sigh and put her hands to her hips, "Would it kill you to be a_ little_ bit more…interactive?"

"Yes."

She threw her hands up, "God, you're such a STIFF!"

"Sorry you feel that way." Sasuke answered smoothly. Was it just everyone else, or did Sasuke _enjoy_ the verbal bout?

"I've only known you for about a day," Sakura said, "but I still know you enough to know you act like you have a STICK UP YOUR ASS!" _That_ got Sasuke's attention.

"What did you say?" His voice was dangerously low.

Sakura also lowered her voice, "I said, you have a STICK UP YOUR ASS." Naruto was watching with great amusement as Sasuke's mouth twisted into a frown. He was the only other person that could get under Sasuke's skin. But Sakura sure knew how to do it too.

"At least I don't go around parading and greeting everyone I see, _Pinky._" Sasuke retorted, watching with satisfaction as Sakura twitched.

"_What_ did you call me?"

"Pinky."

"AHHHH! Do you want to see GOD?"

Sasuke looked at the seething girl up and down, his eyes then fixed on her temples, "And a weak and fragile-looking girl…"

Sakura snapped, "You are going DOWN, AND DOWN, AND DOWN, UCHIHA!" She gestured to the ground to emphasize her point.

"A weak girl like _you_ who can't even defend herself against a _boar_ thinks she can defeat _me_?" Sasuke sneered.

"For your information, I'M ALLERGIVE TO BOARS!"

The audience of this verbal fight gaped. Did the normally passive Uchiha and bouncy pink-headed girl seem oddly…enjoyable in this?

"Hey!" Naruto interrupted, "Sakura-chan isn't weak!"

"Yosh!" Lee did his Gai-pose, "How dare you insult Sakura-san!"

"If I didn't know any better…" Naruto narrowed his eyes at the bowl-cut fiend, "I would say you're coming onto Sakura-chan…"

"What about you, Naruto?" Lee countered. And soon, they were engaged in a verbal fight of their own.

Inside, Hinata's blood boiled with jealousy. _Her_ Naruto-kun liked Sakura? No! It was unspeakable, she would not believe it. "N-Na-Naruto-kun...please don't fight with Lee-san…" She was pulled into the fight as well.

"Well…this is an interesting turn of events…" Tenten said slowly, not wanting to engage in a fight of her own. Neji merely nodded, keeping an eye on Hinata. Though they were not related and he did detest the main branch, it was still his duty that the Hyuuga-heiress would not get hurt.

"WHAT?" Sakura's loud voice turned the remaining genin's attention to the main bout.

"Do you have a hearing problem too, PINKY?"

She growled, "You're SO dead, Uchiha!"

"Oh yeah," Sasuke smirked his Uchiha smirk, "and you have a _larger-than-average forehead_."

"DIE!"

**THUMP! **

'Ouch,' was on everyone's minds as they winced. The Uchiha had just been pummeled to the ground, a large bump on his head.

"Go, Sakura!" Ino rooted, punching a fist into the air, "GIRL-POWER!"

"How troublesome…" Shikamaru muttered, "girl's are weak…" As soon as the words left his mouth, he had to dodge Tenten's kunais. The air was filled with shouts, protests, shrieks, cries of pain, verbal assaults, and the crunching of potato chips.

Just then, the ramen stand owner came to the front, a tray of ramen bowls in his hand, "I'm very sorry for the long wait, there was some difficulty-" he stopped short at the chaos in his small ramen store.

Shikamaru was trying to avoid being skinned by Tenten while dodging Ino, Neji was trying to rein in the raging Tenten while keeping a lookout for Hinata who was currently in between Naruto and Lee's duel, shortly followed by Kiba and Akamaru, Shino and Choji were exchanging pleasant talk, and Sasuke and the weird pink-haired girl were trying to kill each other.

The ramen owner asked nervously, scratching the back of his head, "Uhh…is anyone going to eat ramen?"

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SA: (whistles) HOLY MOTHER! 14 PAGES! Wow…well, hope it didn't suck too bad…

Gaara: Personally? I didn't like it.

Naruto cast: (murmurs) Yeah…it was ok…no, it was horrible…

SA: (boohoo) Gee, THANKS, Gaara! That boosted my self-esteem _so_ much…

**Author responds!**

L4zyL4dy: It's alright, I know you didn't mean to judge me! (smile) Yeah, it's an AWESOME coincidence…as I've said before, great minds think alike!

Nadramon: uhh…not sure if I already answered this but - YAY! You think my story is funny! …naru/sasu…(twitch) (TWITCH)…gaa/hina…(TWITCH!)…that should answer your question! (smile) I'm so sorry, but I'm not a yaoi-lover! (boohoo) I would say to discontinue reading this story because the pairings are: Sasu/Saku, Naru/Hina, Ino/Shika, Ten/Neji…and I'm not sure about others! I think Gaara WILL make an appearance…later on…somewhere…xD Sakura isn't EXACTLY a genie, she's more like a spirit, in my opinion, who HAS genie-like powers! THANK YOU!

left-alone: WAAHHH! YOU LOVE MY STORY! THANK YOU THANK YOU!

YingYang-chan: THANK YOU! YOU THINK MY STORY IS FUNNY TOO! (hug) Here's your update!

lexy499: THANK YOU SO MUCH! I always love positive comments…!

Nadramon: Thank you for still reading this story! (gives pocky) You know what that is right? Those chocolate covered stick stuff…YUM! I'm really not sure if the story is beginning to suck…I think it is…xP School is going to start on SEPT. 7! And I'm pretty stressed out about summer work and crap…GAH!

coolRiku: Thank you! Here's your next chapter!

pei-chan: YAY! You think my story is funny too! I hope it didn't lose it's funniness…I know, what a name! But I couldn't think of anything else! Sakura is NOT a genie alone, she's sorta everything! SORTA! I know, I hope I don't get writers block too…(boohoo)

Princess Sakura Haruno: That's the first time (I think) that anyone said I had a similar story but WROTE differently…wow, THANKS! Of course I won't delete it! The worst thing to happen is that I'll get writer's block! (shiver) SCARY!

DarknessReigns4ever: (chanting) I will I will I will I will…(smile) Of course, anything for the reviewers!

THE PUPPY DOG EYES NEVER LIE: wow…I never thought the story was THAT GOOD…xD I thought the story actually sucked…so, THANK YOU! MOOHAAHAHA! (yes I said 'moohahaha') I know I'm evil…putting that cliffy there…sorry for the slow update, but summer assignments have to be done!

iluvanime493: Thank you so much for believing me! (smile) Wow! Really? You had the same idea too? GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE! D Well, like I said before, she's not REALLY JUST a goddess, I don't know what to call her…she's like a spirit WITH the powers of a genie, goddess, and etc. About the boar-thing…I just needed some way for Sasuke and Sakura to meet…xD. I know, pathetic, but hey- it worked! And she's allergic to it…but don't ask…

Your fan: YAY! I HAVE A FAN! YAY-NESS! Thank you!

ang3Lix: THANK YOU SO MUCH! You're really understanding, a good trait of authors…(grin) It's alright, I respect that we have the same ideas so I changed the title! I like the new title anyways. If I didn't change it, this story would sort of be a shadow of yours! I mean, look at how much REVIEWS you got! WOW! D I don't think you're lazy at writing…it's not your fault your computers being gay, or school stress or WHATEVER! Yup, cool indeed. Thank you! Hope to hear from a fellow writer some more!

Nadramon: Hey, nadramon! You've become a regular reviewer so I've noticed your penname…(grin) I'M SO SORRY! I didn't know you disliked Sasu/saku…you should really stop reading this story because I am a SUPER fan of SASU/SAKU! I think they are the most adorable couple, next to NARU/HINA! Thank you for thinking it's funny but you really shouldn't continue reading something you don't like! Not that I dislike the reviews…D

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! The purple square thingy is telling you to click it…with mind-powers…you can't resist…so just go CLICK IT!

Complaints? Suggestions? Comments? Just want to blab anything? GREAT! REVIEW and blab away! Randomness is welcome! MOOHAHAHAHAAAA!


	4. The GREAT, the WONDERFUL, first wish?

**Wishful Thinking**

**by: Sakuranime **

Disclaimer: Hmmm…owning Naruto will be on the top of my list when I rule the world...MOOHAHAHAAA!...but until then…NO. I. DON'T. OWN. IT. (sob)

42 REVIEWS! OH EM EF GEE! (squeals) I LOVE YOU REVIEWERS!

Sadly, high school is going to start on the 7TH…that's why I'm trying REALLY HARD to get another chapter in BEFORE then…which, I think, is IMPOSSIBLE! (sob) BUT! I've managed to produce this chapter! YAY! I still have one more summer assignment to complete…(sigh) I'm such a slacker…but it's too troublesome! (smirk)

"Quotations"

'Thoughts'

(( _Flashbacks_ ))

Chapter 4: The GREAT, the WONDERFUL, first…wish?

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Sakura's eyebrow twitched as every cell in her body fought the urge to just _bang his head with a fry pan_. But alas, it would not be good if she killed her 'master'. Wasn't it just yesterday that he had trouble waking _her_? Now it was the other way around.

Ironic, isn't it?

"SA-SU-KE!" She pronounced each syllable vehemently from the foot of the bed. Of course, no reaction. Who knew that Uchiha Sasuke was a heavy sleeper?

'That's one thing we have in common…' Sakura thought dryly. She looked at him and fought an oncoming blush. Streams of light peeked through the crevices of the blinds, shining the room. The dark-haired boy sleeping comfortably on the king-sized bed was face-up. His hair pressed against the pillow and soft, raven-black bangs framed the side of his face. Sasuke's face was rid of the frown he usually had on and instead, looked peaceful and maybe even content. Sakura had to admit grudgingly, he _was_ good-looking.

A sigh left her pink lips as she contemplated on what to do. Sakura had tried everything- repeat, _everything_, to get the boy to wake: screaming, shouting, pounding on drums, threatening to shave him bald, cackling evilly, and more. But, surprisingly, not _one_ of them worked.

"Geez," Sakura muttered aloud, frowning, "this guy sure sleeps like a log…" She pulled a thoughtful look, propping her head with her hand in mid-air. "Hmmm…think…think…THINK!" The pink-haired spirit-genie-whatnot wracked her brain for a solution. Ino, the blonde girl whom she found out yesterday did not tolerate tardiness, threatened anyone who came late.

Suddenly, an all-too familiar mischievous grin found its way to Sakura's lips. Soon following it, an uncharacteristic evil laugh emitted from her throat. "Moohahahahahaaa!" Her eyes turned to slits and the grin threatened to split her mouth in half.

Sakura walked around, arriving at Sasuke's sleeping side and leaned into his ear.

"Sasuke…" She whispered, her breath tickling Sasuke's unconscious mind, "…NARUTO IS RAIDING YOUR FRIGDE!"

A nanosecond after she uttered the words, 'Naruto' and 'fridge', Sasuke sprang up, fully awake, his head swishing from side to side. Sakura smiled at her handiwork.

'Mission impossible: accomplished,' Sakura gave herself a pat on the back.

"What the-" Sasuke started, clad in only his sleepwear, "What are you doing?" He asked the pink-haired girl, fully decked out in her red-dress and blue biking shorts.

She rolled her eyes, "Remember? Yesterday we decided to have a picnic at the park? Hinata was going to bring the food? Everyone's coming? Ring any bells?"

A blank stare. "And…?"

"And so we're going!" Sakura exclaimed in joy, throwing her hands in the air. "Come on, we're all going to play in the park!" She giggled childishly. Sasuke said nothing and instead slipped back into the covers and closed his eyes.

"You woke me up for that?" He muttered, clearly disapproving.

Sakura gave a long look at the Uchiha, "Well? Aren't you going to get up?"

"No," With that said, he tried to drift back into dream-land, only to be forced awake by a…

"WHAT!" The pink-haired girl demanded loudly, "What do you mean, 'no'?"

A frown marred Sasuke's face, and he cracked one eye open, "I don't have time to 'play in the park' like a little child. It's Saturday and I'm going to sleep. You can go if you want but I'm not."

Sakura's face saddened, "Why aren't you coming? Please, Sasuke? We'll have so much fun!"

"No."

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

"No."

"Pretty please with a cherry on top with whip cream?"

"No means no."

- 15 minutes later -

"Pretty please with a cherry on top with whip cream, strawberries, banana, cookies, and chocolate fudge?"

"**NO**," Sasuke was on his last strand of nerve but it didn't seem like Sakura was going to surrender any time soon.

"Pretty please with a cherry on top with whip cream, strawberries, banana, cookies, chocolate fudge, and watermelons?"

That was it.

"**NO MEANS NO!**"

"Pretty please-"

"**ALRIGHT DAMNIT!**" Sasuke shot out of bed with every intention of strangling the girl but stopped when he came face to face with the smiling-broadly Sakura. All traces of anger dissipated in an instant.

She laughed, "Gotcha. I'll be waiting downstairs, don't take too long, Sasuke!" She pivoted and proceeded out of his room, a 'click' sound from the closed door.

A few seconds past with Sasuke staring after her. He sighed exasperatedly and made a move to the bathroom.

"She's _really_ annoying…" He grumbled, turning on the faucet, "_really, really, REALLY_ annoying…"

A small smile fought its way to his mouth.

-

The dark-haired boy raked a hand through the messy mass of raven locks he called his hair in irritation. Hands shoved back into his pocket, he continued walking along side a pink-haired girl on their way to the park.

'Who the hell decided on this again?' Sasuke asked himself darkly.

(( _After the 'little' brawl at the Ichiraku, the owner nearly had a heart attack at the final damages and kicked the genin teams out. _

_Naruto paused from rubbing his behind to wince at the pain, "Ow…" He glared at the calm and collected of the entire group, "How come you guys didn't fall on your asses?" _

_Neji scoffed and instead of answering, folded his arms in front of him. Shino merely adjusted his shades, Shikamaru muttered a 'how troublesome', and Choji really didn't care if he was kicked or not- as long as he had his beloved chips (which he was still devouring). _

"_We're shinobis, dobe," Sasuke finally answered, seeing as no one else would, "ninja's have reflexes." _

_Everyone else, unfortunately, was still recovering from the meeting between their butts and Mr. Ground. Sakura dusted herself off and went to help Hinata up. _

"_Thank you, Sakura," Hinata said shyly, still not really acquainted with the strange girl. _

_She gave a wide smile, startling the shy Hyuuga, "It's alright." She then went to help the other girls, leaving Hinata to stare after her. For a reason she couldn't quite place, Sakura demeanor was similar to Naruto's. _

_Ino batted Sakura's outstretched hand, "It's alright, I can help myself, you know." _

"_Oh come on, Ino," Tenten placed her hands on her hips, " just let her help you!" Said person grumbled and reluctantly took Sakura's hand. _

"_Thanks," Ino mumbled. _

_Sakura smiled brightly in return, "It's alright! I'm sorry if I offended you in any way…you seem to dislike me." _

_The blonde-haired girl cast her eyes away, "It's not that…" 'Besides the fact that you're close to Sasuke…ugh, get a grip, Ino! She's Sasuke's **sister**, of course she'll be close to her!' She shook her head and smiled back, "Sorry, it's nothing." _

_An awkward silence between the genin teams took hold. _

_Naruto, disliking silence, asked, "Ano sa, ano sa! Isn't tomorrow Saturday?" _

"_Yeah, it is!" Sakura confirmed. _

"_Well…let's have a picnic then!" Naruto proposed with a fist in the, jumping about. _

_Silence. _

"_Nah, I'm going to do some training…" _

"_Why would I waste my time on a **picnic**?" _

"…"

"_What?" _

"_I have to look after the flower shop…" _

"_I-I d-don't think I c-can g-go…" _

"_Hn." _

_Sakura looked around her at her newfound friends as each of them expressed their answers. She glanced at the crest-fallen Naruto and made up her mind. _

"_Oh, come on guys!" Sakura said enthusiastically, catching their attention, "Naruto's idea is great! Let's all go on a picnic!" _

"_Sakura…" Sasuke said in a warning tone but she took no notice of it. _

_Sakura pumped her fist into the air, fire burning in her eyes, "Tomorrow's a weekday so let's all relax! Come on, I know all of you want a little break now and then," She pleaded with puppy dog eyes. _

_Naruto joined in, "See? Sakura-chan wants to also!" _

"_YOSH!" Lee exclaimed, "I shall partake in this outdoor event as well. The fires of youth will burn forever!" Sakura giggled. _

_Akamaru barked. "Eh? You want to go too, Akamaru?" Kiba asked his dog, who in return, barked his reply. "Alright! If Akamaru's going, I'm going too!" The dog-like genin growled out. _

"_I guess so…" Shino voiced in reply. _

"_I'll s-see if I c-can g-go…" Hinata said, her voice barely audible after Lee's enormous voice. She suddenly found herself in Naruto's embrace. _

"_Yeah, Hinata's going too!" He grinned boyishly, causing a bright red stain to jump on her cheeks. 'N-Naruto-kun is h-hugging m-me…!' _

_Her blush did not go unnoticed by the stoic Hyuuga, however, and Neji tried to suppress a growl but to no avail. His eyes darted from the fox-boy back to the Hyuuga heiress. He did NOT enjoy the close proximity the two shared. A jab to his side by Tenten's elbow pulled him from his promises for a slow and painful death towards the fox-boy. _

"_A picnic sounds like a good idea. How about it, Neji?" Tenten asked, her eyes shining with anticipation. _

"_No," Neji finally answered, quenching the fire in the brown-haired girl's eyes, "we have to train tomorrow, remember?" _

"_Oh come on! Can't you take a break at least once?" She asked fruitlessly, "We'll train a bit during the picnic, how about that?" _

_Neji paused, considering the option. If he complied with his female teammate's wishes, he could train **and** look after Hinata. It was like killing two birds with one stone. Reluctantly, he nodded, a shriek of joy erupting from her mouth. _

"_Sakura! We're going too," Tenten said, smiling. _

_Sakura smiled at turned to the remaining group, "What about you guys?" _

_Ino bit her lip. 'If I go to the picnic, I can get a chance to be with Sasuke-kun!' "Alright, we're going too!" She stated firmly. _

"_Wait-…what?" Shikamaru asked confusedly, "Since when did you decide that I'm going too?" _

"_What did you say?" Ino demanded, suddenly reminding everyone of a raging boar. _

_The lazy-genius shook his head, "Nothing…" _

"_As long as there's food, count me in," Choji agreed in between bites of potato chips. _

_Hinata raised a hand slowly, "I'll b-bring f-food." _

"_YAY!" Sakura shouted happily, "everyone's coming!" _

_Sasuke growled, peeved at being ignored by the hyperactive pinky, "I'm not going, I have better things to do." _

"_But Sasuke-kun-" Ino started but Sasuke turned his heel and was already departing for his house, err, mansion. _

"_Ah-! Wait, Sasuke!" Sakura started after the retreating boy. She turned around and gave everyone a wink, "don't worry," she said lowly so that Sasuke wouldn't hear, "he's coming too." She waved at the remaining genins, "Ja ne! See you tomorrow at the park!" _))

'Oh yeah…' Out of the corner of his eye, he stole a glance at the singing girl beside him, 'she and the dobe decided on this pointless trip…'

Sakura was swinging a basket in one hand, that smile that never ceased to glow plastered on her face for the world to see. She felt his stare and asked innocently, "What are you staring at?"

"Che." Sasuke's eyes rested on the road in front of them and didn't answer.

Sakura rolled her eyes skyward. 'Really! He should wish to be more talkative or something…thinking of wishes…'

"Ne, Sasuke?"

His eyes were back on her again, "What?"

"Have you decided on what your wishes are going to be?" Sakura asked patiently.

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow, "Wishes?"

She sighed. Must she go through this again? "You know…three wishes? You forget, I _am_ a genie-spirit-"

"Yeah, yeah," Sasuke interrupted, hearing the phrase many times already.

"So? Your wishes are…?"

The Uchiha couldn't believe himself. Was he _actually_ going to consider the wishes? Yes, he was. "Uhh…alright."

Sakura's ears perked up in anticipation. "You believe me?" She asked incredulously.

Sasuke nodded, "I wish for you to go away."

The pink-haired girl's ears flopped back down, "You can't wish that."

He frowned, "Why not?"

Sakura sighed, getting ready for a long talk, "Let me explain the rules for wish-making. You are allowed exactly _three wishes_, no more and no less. You CANNOT, I repeat, CANNOT wish for deaths, any unfortunate happenings,"

The Uchiha scoffed. "What good are you if you can't kill?"

"WELL, Mr. I-got-a-stick-up-my-ass," Sakura huffed in indignation, "everything doesn't revolve around death! I can grant wishes of good fortune, thought."

"Alright then…" Sasuke glared at her out of the corner of his peripheral vision.

"You're going to make a wish?" Sakura said, blinking in surprise, "alright…I'm ready to make it happen!" A smile engulfed her mouth.

"I wish…"

Sakura waited, hands poised.

Sasuke allowed a smirk to appear on his face, "…that you'll stop being so annoying."

"GREAT! You wish is my command-" Sakura blinked and stopped, just realizing what he said.

Knowing the explosion that was sure to occur, Sasuke picked up his pace a bit and was soon a good 10 feet ahead from the pink-haired girl.

"WHAT! I AM NOT ANNOYING! OOH…! IF I WASN'T A GENIE-SPIRIT-DEITY-THING I WOULD SO KICK YOUR ANGSTY-ASS TO THE SEVEN HELLS! YOU'RE JUST ASKING FOR IT UCHIHA SASUKE!"

The smirk transformed into the tiniest evidence of a smile. Maybe the picnic wasn't going to be a _too_ bad…just maybe…then again, who was he kidding? He had to worst kind of luck!

He was right. If only he knew the dangerous, disastrous, chaotic mess of the 'picnic' he was about to experience, Sasuke would have been on his bed, sleeping about maim and the destruction of his brother…

But no one can tell the future.

Not even her.

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SA: WAAAHHH! Another chapter down, more to come! YAYNESS!

Lee: YOUTH AND LOVE SHALL PREVAIL! YOSH!

**Author responds! **

left-alone: Thankies! Reviews are really helpful for me! And school is starting too…(boohoo)

DarknessReigns4ever: Yeah, I know, the introduction DID drone a bit…xD But I'm too lazy to change it…TOO TROUBLESOME! HELL YEAH! Girl-power! OF COURSE I'M PUTTING SANDY PANDA! (gushes) Gaara is OF COURSE going to appear…in future chapters, of course!

Akatsuki Blaze: Thank you! I'm glad you think it's hilarious! You're also a regular reviewer…YAY! Oh yeah, I checked out your fic: WHY ME? and left a review! I think it's hilarious and you should hurry up and continue! THANKS!

TenTen4Neji: YAY! STORY ALERT AND FAVE! (hugs) YAY GAARA! Don't worry, he'll make an appearance in this story!

freakenout: HELL YEAH! GIRL POWER! Here's your update! ENJOY.

Dark Angelic Kitty: I'm glad you changed perspectives on this story…xD I only hope I can do a good job and get lots of reviews and make readers happy! YAY. GASP! You think I have a writer's talent? YOU are on my 'favorite readers list'! I read your story and it's GREEEAAAATT! (I'm not tony the tiger…gah!)

Nadramon: Ooops! You're not a yaoi lover? GOMEN NASAI! LOL! Sorry, but I just don't like yaoi and (shudder) Gaara and Hinata…HINATA AND NARUTO LOOK SOOO KAWAII TOGETHER! (sob) but I guess that's just my opinion…YAY! I'm so glad I might influence a reader's views on a pairing! I hope I do! Thankies, you're a regular reviewer too!

pei-chan: Honestly, I don't know how many chapters there are going to be…with HIGH SCHOOL starting, my chapters will probably be LESS FREQUENT! GASP! I know. When a girl and guy fight, it means they're in love…SO TRUE! MOOHAHAHAAA!

Tank: THANK YOU SO MUCH! I love it when I change a person's opinion! YAY. I think you should write that story no matter WHAT. This is for a reason! But, if you have other ideas, you should write them too! Thank you for your compliments! They make me so proud of this story…D yeah, I should use spellcheck, it's just that readers wanted me to update ASAP so…there ya have it! That, and I'm really lazy…xD

tianne-chan: THANKIES! Here's your update! Hope it doesn't have too many mistakes…

Kazemaru-kun: YAY! I'm so glad I make people laugh with this story…Oo You're still laughing? Weird…but then again I do that too…D

iluvanime493: Sakura isn't REALLY Sasuke's sister, he just made that up as an excuse! Yeah, reading your review, I realized that Ino was OOC at that part…but WHO CARES! IT'S GIRL-POWER! HELL YEAH! LOL! Yup, Ichiraku shall never be the same…

drunkdragon: LOL! I know, the story is REALLY WEIRD…but I'M weird so it's all good…D

SA: THANK YOU GUYS SOOOOO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR REVIEWS! They are MUCHO appreciated!

Gaara: (mumbles) Please review…it'll speed up my appearance in this story…if Sakuranime isn't too lazy…

SA: YOU WANNA DIE, PANDA?

REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, R.E.V.I.E.W!

Complaints? Suggestions? Comments? Just want to blab anything? GREAT! REVIEW and blab away! Randomness is welcome! MOOHAHAHAHAAAA!


	5. We WILL find out!

**Wishful Thinking **

**by: Sakuranime**

Disclaimer: (Insert usual)

I. AM. SOOOO. SORRY! (dodges various weapons thrown) AIII! I'm SO sorry, I know this chapter came out at a REALLY LATE time! I just wanted to make this chapter seem…err…UN-crappy…GOMEN NASAI! I hope you guys forgive me, but you have to understand I have only 1 HOUR on the computer! And that includes HOMEWORK as well! Since I just started high school now, I get a TON of it…(boohoo)

On other notes…57 REVIEWS! (tears) Now I can die happily…(sniffles) AISHITERU FAITHFUL REVIEWERS! I'LL TRY MY BEST TO UPDATE! And I'm so sorry if the chapters are short!

"Quotations"

'Thoughts'

(( _Flashbacks_ ))

Chapter 5: We WILL find out!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Ohayo, everyone!" Sakura greeted jubilantly, waving her hand in the air. She and Sasuke had just arrived at the park. She was excited about the picnic the genins agreed on, but judging from the dark aura surrounding him, she could tell Sasuke wanted to murder her. She glanced at him.

Sasuke twirled a shuriken in his finger, twitching ever so slightly and directing his famous Uchiha glare at her.

The pink-head gulped.

Yup. _Badly_ wanted to murder her.

Hinata looked up from unpacking the food she had brought and waved a small wave. "H-hello, Sakura," She tilted her dark-purple haired head. "Hello Sasuke-san…" Said boy nodded absently, gazing impassively out into the playground and field.

Naruto was currently building himself something that was impossible to make out, laughing raucously that Sasuke was sure that the hinges of his mouth would permanently stay opened. He shook his messy hair, ashamed of his teammate.

'And he intends to become the Hokage…' Sasuke searched for the other, more _mature_ shinobis and, when he spotted them, did a double-take. He gawked.

Was that THE _Hyuuga Neji_ on the _swing_?

And there- by the slide! Was it just him, or was _Aburame Shino_ enjoying himself going down, then climbing back up?

Sasuke began panicking. 'Where's Nara…? He must still be sane…'

He frantically searched but the Nara was nowhere to be seen. The dark-haired boy breathed a sigh of relief. 'Must be somewhere under a tree…'

A flash of gray followed by green appeared in his peripheral vision. Another flash. A guess of who that would be sent chills down Sasuke's back but he refused to believe it.

"Haha! I'm too fast!" The voice was undoubtly Kiba's. Well, that was ok. In the avenger's point of view, Kiba was as immature as Naruto at some times.

The flash of gray, now known as Kiba, ran across the playground only to stop abruptly in mid-step.

Kiba blinked in surprise, Akamaru, who was in his jacket, yelping the same question. "Huh?" He looked down and groaned.

Sasuke's blood ran cold as Shikamaru walked up to him, his own shadow connected with the dog-lovers'. A lazy scowl was on his face. "You lost."

The onyx-eyed fellow could only watch in disbelief as the two had a verbal battle of 'YOU-CAN'T-USE-ANY-TECHNIQUES!' and 'WE-NEVER-SPECIFIED-ANY-SUCH-RULE!' It was then that the shadow-master took notice of Sasuke.

"Eh?" Shikamaru blinked dumbly. "I can't believe you actually came, Sasuke."

The still-shell-shocked boy managed a, "Yeah…me neither…"

Kiba smirked, a fang glinting in the sunlight. "Heh. Bet Sakura dragged you here."

From the sandbox, Naruto pumped a fist into the air and yelled, "ALRIGHT! It's finished!"

Naruto grinned in triumph and looked up. "Oi! Sasuke-teme! Kiba! Shikamaru! Over here!" He gestured to his sand mound. The three boys rolled their eyes and walked over to the enthusiastic fox-boy while he called over Shino and Neji.

The guys peered in at the "creation" and felt their jaw drop. It was the Hokage monument. Plain and simple. The faces of the past Hokages with definite features. Nothing unusual.

NOTHING unusual?

Yup. NOTHING unusual…

…which was why it was also an EXACT REPLICA of the REAL Hokage monument!

Neji's white eyes widened. "_You_ did that?"

Akamaru yipped from his master's shoulder. "H-holy shit…" Kiba translated, mesmerized at the sand monument. "It's exactly like the real thing!"

"Of course it is!" Naruto showed a peace-sign with his fingers. "The great Uzumaki Naruto made it!"

"Hmm…interesting…I never knew you could sculpture…" Shino said quietly.

"Yeah…like making a sand-replica of the Hokage monument will do you any good in becoming Hokage…" Sasuke said, but he, too, was amazed. Who knew Naruto possessed such artistic skills?

"Hey guys!" Sakura called from the picnic blanket set out underneath the cherry blossom tree. "LUNCH TIME!"

Naruto was a blur and the first to arrive by the startled Hinata. Sakura laughed, amused by his antic. The more "mature" boys of the group shook their heads and proceeded to walk calmly to the cherry blossom tree.

Ino came into view, a handful of various flowers protruding from a basket in her hand. Tenten was beside her, her kunai holster bulging from the quantity it carried.

The blonde waved. "Hey Sakura!" Tenten soon followed suit.

Sakura smiled brightly, looking at her newfound friends. "Hiya, Ino, Tenten! Let's eat lunch now! Hinata makes really good food!"

"Ramen, ramen, ramen…" Naruto chanted like a mantra gleefully when he reached the picnic area.

Hinata blushed, reaching into the ginormous knapsack and pulling out a bowl of ramen. Steamed, cooked, and complete with chopsticks and all. "H-here, N-Naruto-kun…"

The fox-boy's eyes turned into saucers. "Oh, COOL! Hinata-chan, how did you do that?"

The Hyuuga-heiress gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, how can you just take out an OPEN, STEAMED, COOKED, and HOMEMADE ramen without having spilled in your knapsack?" Naruto stared at her in wonder.

"It's a mystery…" Sakura said mysteriously, a shadow crossing her features. The more, quote on quote, "mature" boys reached them.

"Hey, guys!" The cheerful pink-head greeted. A mix of 'heys', 'yips', 'hello', 'hi' and whatnot replied in answer.

"What did you cook up, Hinata?" Kiba smacked his lips in anticipation as he took a seat on the red and white patchwork quilt.

Tenten took up a seat next to Ino, who took a seat next to Shikamaru, who took a seat next to Sasuke, who sat next to Sakura, who sat next to Hinata, who Naruto took a seat next to, who Kiba and Shino sat next to, and who Neji sat next to, ending up next to Tenten. The end formation was of a circle.

"Actually, I cooked it all…" Neji muttered stoically, if it was possible to just admit you did something totally uncharacteristic in a calm way. Hinata blushed, embarrassed at this new comment.

"Y-yes..._I_ helped _Neji-nii-san_…" Hinata twiddled her thumbs shyly.

Everyone gaped at them.

"Hyuuga can cook?"

"Whoa!"

"SERIOUSLY?"

"Cool!"

"I wish Shikamaru can cook…"

"Hey!"

"N-Neji…cooks?" Tenten sputtered, receiving a glare from said cook.

"And what if I do?"

"N-nothing…it's just…so…how should I say this…?" The weapons-master wondered aloud, still amazed at the new found fact about her teammate.

"Weird?" Sasuke supplied.

Sakura raised her hand. "Ooh! I know! Un-you?"

"Queer?" Shino said from behind his white coat.

"Cool?" Ino said helpfully.

Shikamaru muttered, "Random?"

"It's so…weird, un-you, queer, cool, _and_ random!" Tenten settled finally. The white-eyed jyuuken-master scowled. Quite _handsomely_, in Tenten's opinion.

"Is it _that_ hard to believe that I can cook?"

A chorus of answers followed.

"Yup!"

"YES."

"Baka."

"Eh…"

"More like _impossible_…"

"Well, I almost went into shock when I first saw you cooking, Neji-nii-san…" Hinata said upon remembrance.

"…fine. I guess you guys can't eat then." Neji settled, smirking at his advantage.

Sakura's eyes widened. "WHAT? NO! I'M HUNGRY!"

"Eh…" Sasuke shrugged nonchalantly, but secretly was hungry. "I guess if it isn't poisonous or anything…"

"I'M HUNGRY TOO!" Naruto bawled.

"YEAH!"

"Me too!"

"Neji…if you don't feed me, I'll go hungry…"

"I'll try some…"

Neji's eyebrow twitched. There was one TOO many noises for his liking. "Alright, alright! Just…be quiet…"

"Yay!" Sakura cheered happily, and reached over to hug the startled Sasuke.

"Wha- Sakura? What are you doing!" Sasuke fought an oncoming blush.

Ignoring the Uchiha completely, Sakura looked thoughtfully up at the sky. "Uhhmm…I'll have a miso ramen, for now, chips, a strawberry smoothie, oden, Chinese vegetable rice, and vegetable noodles, please!"

"'_For now'_?" Everyone's eyes widened for the umpteenth time that day. This girl sure had a stomach to match!

Hinata pulled out the items asked and set them in front of the hungry girl.

"Ano sa, ano sa!" Naruto shouted. "I want the same thing as Sakura-chan!" Sasuke winced at the noise volume.

"Keep it DOWN, dobe…no need to kill my sense of hearing…" He admonished.

Hinata handed the specified orders to Naruto, who was grinning idiotically by then. Everyone else thought he looked funny while she was the sole person thinking he looked cute. The Hyuuga looked at the others. "What do you guys want?"

Shikamaru cracked an eye open from his resting position on the grass. "Tempura."

"Oooh! I've always wanted to try Hyuuga-made spicy-noodles with pork." Tenten said excitedly. A near-invisible blush appeared on Neji's face but Sakura caught it amidst eyeing her miso ramen, chips, vegetable rice, and smoothie. She smirked inwardly, one thought crossing her mind:

'He likes her!'

Hinata smiled. "Oh, the Hyuuga-made spicy-noodles with pork were invented by Neji. They taste very good." She complimented, causing the other Hyuuga's blush to redden a fraction.

Tenten smirked, which suspiciously looked _a lot_ like Neji's. "I'm sure they are…"

"Saying something there, Tenten?" Neji raised a brow.

His smirk was still on her face. "Nothing _at_ _all_, Neji."

"And you guys?" Hinata placed Tenten's order in front of her.

"Hmm…hamburger with a mandarin chicken salad on the side!"

"I'll have the stir-fried rice with chicken on the side, please.."

"Miso soup, rice, and assorted side dishes!"

Naruto grinned broadly, licking his lips to begin eating. "Itadakimas-…eh?" He looked around as if looking for something. Everyone looked at the boy curiously.

"What is it N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked nervously. She didn't want to seem embarrassed in front of him…_especially_ him.

"Do we have any chopsticks or spoons?" Naruto questioned.

The purple-haired girl let out a small gasp. Immediately, she began digging into the over-sized knapsack; checking all of the compartments but found nothing. "I can't find anything!" She moaned.

Neji quirked a brow. "I thought I told Hanabi to put it in…"

"Now how are we going to eat?" Kiba groaned while and looked at his plate of assorted meats sadly.

Sakura bit her lip. She glanced at Sasuke to find him already staring at her. 'Should I…?' She asked silently.

'No!' Sasuke mouthed back.

'But-'

'No buts!' He shot her an intense glare. 'If anyone finds out about you, a person who can do magic and whatever, who knows what they'll think? They'll hound me until I die!'

The pink-haired girl frowned. 'But…the food…'

'Who cares? It doesn't look _that_ good…I mean, Hyuuga cooked it.' Sasuke looked at the vegetable-fried rice and bourbon chicken on his plate. In truth, it looked _delicious_. But he was Sasuke. An Uchiha. He wouldn't admit that his rival could cook better than _him_.

Sakura glared hotly. 'Well too bad, because I want to eat! I'm HUNGRY! This is for the sake of FOOD!'

Before Sasuke could stop her, she twisted around so it would look like she was getting something from behind her. The spirit-genie pointed her finger on the mat on which they all sat on.

"Forks, spoons…and oh, chopsticks too." She said softly. Her index finger glowed a light pink. Instantly, about a dozen eating utensils appeared on the mat. Smiling secretly to the slack-jawed Sasuke, she gathered the utensils in her hands and turned to face the rest of the genins who were currently debating on whether who would go to get some chopsticks.

"I think it should be Naruto!" Ino voiced loudly.

"WHAT?" The blonde protested. "Why me?"

Ino shrugged sheepishly. "Well, you're probably the fastest out of all of us…"

"That's not true!" Kiba argued. "I'm part _dog_!"

"And your point is…?" Tenten asked skeptically.

"Dogs are fast!"

"Uhhh…guys?" Sakura asked with a broad smile. "So sorry to break up your lovely conversation, but…" She showed them the utensils in her hand. "I've got some spoons, forks, and chopsticks!"

"Alright!" Naruto cheered. Hastily, he grabbed a chopstick. "Itadakimasu!"

Shikamaru reached for a chopstick from Sakura's outstretched hand. "Where did you get these? I didn't see you carrying a bag of any sort…"

"Uhh…well…" A panicky look overcame her features. She stole a glance to the dark-haired boy. 'HELP!'

"I brought it." Sasuke said quickly. The pink-haired girl gave him a grateful smile.

But, being the lazy-ass but still extremely smart ninja he was, Shikamaru pressed further. "I don't recall seeing you bring a bag…"

"I hid it in my pocket." Sasuke replied curtly and calmly, although inside, he was a torrent of nervousness.

Naruto scrunched his face is displeasure. "Whaaaat? These chopsticks were in Sasuke-teme's pockets? Eww…"

"Stop being such a baby, Naruto! Now, let's dig in!" Sakura said, a bit too hastily, it seemed to Hinata.

Sakura glared at the fox-boy out of the corner of her eyes, attempting to get the message through. It took a couple of seconds until Naruto's eyes widened in remembrance and he mouth an 'oh!' Sasuke rolled his eyes and passed the utensils to the other ninjas.

The Hyuuga girl looked at the others to see if they caught anything. The other genins had a tiny glimmer of question at their behavior, but nothing more. Was Sakura hiding something? And it seemed Sasuke and Naruto knew as well.

Hinata looked at Neji but she didn't say anything. He nodded, understanding her message. Neji passed the information to the others. One by one, they agreed in silence.

'What are they hiding from us?'

One way or another, they will find out by the end of this picnic day!

But for now…

"Ne, Sakura-chan, are you going to eat that California roll?"

"Of course!"

"Dobe, get your chopsticks off of _my_ California rolls…I'm warning you…"

"Aw, please?"

"NO."

"Sakura-chan, what about you? Just one...-"

BONK!

"OW!"

"DON'T STEAL MY FOOD, NARUTO! I'LL RIP OUT YOUR INTERNAL ORGANS AND FEED THEM TO THE DOGS IF YOU DO!"

Kiba, Shino, Tenten, Neji, and Hinata quietly ignored Team 7's bickering and instead concentrated on slurping and eating their own food. However…

"SAKURA!"

"NARUTO!"

"SASUKE?"

"STOP TAKING OUR FOOD!"

-**owari**-

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

FINALLY! Please don't kill me..anyone…xD (dodges frypan) Oo (runs away) I'm not going to write the author responses because…well, it's time consuming…(smile) TOO TROUBLESOME! So I'll opt for just writing the names…

**Thank you to…**

TenTen4Neji

left-alone

chibiaddicted

how could you

pei-chan

lexy499

darknessreigns4ever

iluvanime493

freakenout

Foxy Hyuuga

Drunkdragon

Li09

Dark angelic kitty

Trialchild 15

Nadramon

THANKIES!


	6. Two champions clash!

**Wishful Thinking **

**by: Sakuranime**

Disclaimer: YES! I OWN NARUTO-CHAN! …or at least, that's what I named my teddy bear…

I am SOOOO SORRY! God, you guys must be so tired of hearing that from me…(sob) I've been such a horrible author, delaying my chapters and all. For that, you guys can flame me all you want- go ahead! I deserve it! I know I get pissed off myself when an author doesn't post another chapter after 2 months or so. I managed to pull this sorry piece of a chapter out of my ass during a Friday! Am I being too harsh on myself? (lol)

Well, it doesn't really have anything to do with me but there was this car crash and a senior at my high school died. He had good grades and was captain of the swim team and all. Well, he died. Yeah, yeah, sounds kind of harsh, I know. But I have no clue who he is, it's just that I feel really sorry for the people who knew him…(boohoo) So we had a half-day at the high school today because some of the staff and kids at school had to attend the funeral. (shrugs) I know I really don't know him, but I'm dedicating this chapter to the memory of him. Eh…and I forgot his name…xD Gah. How sad.

Enjoy and review please! Sorry for any spelling errors and grammar, I just wanted to get this posted ASAP!

"Quotations"

'Thoughts'

(( _Flashbacks_ ))

Chapter 6: Two champions clash!

-

The wind swayed. Birds chirped. Ants scurried on the forest floor. It was quiet, save for the occasional rustling of leaves. A flurry of pink hair leapt from tree to tree. The girl dropped to the ground and closed her eyes in concentration.

'I feel some heat signatures…around 5…maybe more…right…there!' Snapping her eyes open, she soundlessly jumped back up on a branch and proceeded forward. 'Almost…there…' Beads of sweat trailed down her slender neck, the beginnings of fatigue showing.

She saw a flash of yellow. A smirk on her face, she continued on, leaping from tree branch to tree branch. Another flash of yellow in her vision. The blonde-haired boy was obliviously chuckling to himself behind a tree trunk.

'Gotcha!'

She crept behind him, her movements silent and deadly like a tiger. 'This is the end, Naruto…!' A malicious smile adorned her face and her hand reached out to grab him by the back of his shirt. Her hand met the soft fabric of his orange jacket, instantly tightening her hold.

"I have you now…" She spoke in a low voice.

The boy immediately stiffened when she spoke. He inched his head bit by bit, paling at the sight of his captor.

"TAG! I GOT YOU, NARUTO!" Sakura shouted gleefully, letting the frozen boy go.

Naruto jumped in fright, a hand over his heart. "S-S-S-Sakura-chan! Y-you s-s-scared me!"

The girl stuck out her tongue playfully, showing a V-sign with her fingers. "I know, I'm sooo good like that."

He scoffed. "Suuuuure…"

"Let's go find the others, then, if you're so good!" Sakura challenged. Naruto grinned foxishly.

"You're on."

-

"Ah!" Sakura smiled. "We found all of you!" The genin gang plus the undercover spirit were currently resting in a clearing in the forest floor.

With their combined strengths, Naruto and Sakura had managed to capture everyone else within minutes.

"Y-You're b-b-both very good at this game…" Hinata said, twiddling her fingers.

Naruto grinned widely, grabbing the shy Hyuuga's shoulders. "Thanks, Hinata-chan!" The girl responded with a blush covering her face.

Neji growled warningly, to which the blonde boy ignored. Tenten nudged his shoulder lightly. His white eyes glanced at her questioningly.

"Leave them be, Neji. They look so adorable together!" She whispered, squealing at the end. The branch-member's eyes widened a fraction before mimicking a sour expression.

"Hey, isn't someone missing?" Ino asked, gathering everyone's attention.

Kiba mentally counted everyone. "I could have sworn someone else with us…"

Shikamaru sighed, bored. "We're missing Uchiha, that's who."

"HAH! I'll find that bastard in five seconds flat!" Naruto said with a grin and crouched down to jump on top a high branch but a hand stopped him.

"I'LL find him..." Sakura smirked. She turned her head and winked at her friends. "Just give me a couple seconds!" She leapt up on top of a branch and away she went.

Shino was silent. Of course, the bug-user was always silent. "…"

"What is it Shino?" Kiba asked. After being around the guy for quite a while, you had to develop some sense of when Shino wanted to say something.

The Aburame pushed his black glasses up the bridge of his nose. "…didn't you guys tell Sakura that Sasuke was once awarded the 'Best-Hide-and-Seek-Tag-Player-of-Konoha'?"

Everyone was silent.

Crickets chirped.

A crow cawed.

Orochimaru cackled.

"…this will take awhile…" Neji said finally.

"Ooh! Let's get front row seats!" Tenten squealed.

Kiba looked quizzically at her. "For what? Let's just sit down and relax or something…"

"Well, Sakura and Sasuke-san are both really good at hide-and-seek tag…" Hinata's voice spoke quietly. "Something is bound to happen…"

The implied information sunk in to the genin's skull. And then brain.

"LET'S GO! I CANNOT miss this!" Ino shouted and grabbed the nearest person to her…Shikamaru.

"Wait- what?" The lazy-ninja sputtered. After some pointless struggling, he gave up and was dragged by the match-making girl.

Everyone shrugged and followed. Who knows?

_Something_ was bound to happen…_especially_ wherever a spirit is around.

-

_Swish. _

_Swoosh. _

_Swish. _

_Swoosh. _

The pink-haired girl stopped on top a branch. She had been searching for what felt like hours, and still no sign of Sasuke!

Sakura looked around, making sure she was alone in the forest. She pointed to her wrist and whispered, "Clock." Her index finger and wrist glowed pink and in a flash, a digital wristwatch appeared on her wrist.

In pink neon lights read: 4:00. Sakura's eyes widened. It was only four! She had been searching for only 3 minutes?

She lowered her wrist and the watch vanished. Sakura sighed before growling. Why hadn't the others told her Sasuke was this GOOD at hide-and-seek tag?

-

"GYYYYAAARRRGGGHHH!"

The booming voice of a tired, sweaty, and above all, pissed girl rebounded throughout the forest, scaring little animals out of their wits.

Sakura blew tufts of unruly pink hair from her eyes and grumbled aloud. "WHY DIDN'T THEY TELL ME THAT SASUKE WAS SO GOOD AT HIDE-AND-SEEK TAG!" She was about to let loose her frustrations on an innocent tree when, as if by magic, it all disappeared. The spirit-like girl took a deep breath.

"Now, now, Sakura…no need to get all pissed at a silly game…" She massaged her temples. When that didn't relieve her of her aching legs, she added:

"Remember what the psychiatrist said…'Let the frustrations _goooo_…woosa…woosa…woosa…" Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply and exhaled carbon dioxide. Opening her eyes to reveal large emerald orbs, she began to formulate a plan.

'Well, if you can't find him, you gotta bait him…'

Sakura plopped onto the dirt, not caring that it would stain onto her clothes. Being a spirit DID have its good sides.

'What would bait Sasuke…I wonder…'

The pink-haired girl stayed in that position for about a minute until her wide forehead concocted an idea so evil and diabolical, even Orochimaru would have cowered.

A wide, evil smile grew across her pink lips. Sakura released an evil laugh.

"I never knew you were so capable of thinking such a thought, Sakura! Hehehehe…this game will be MINE!" More evil laughter escaped her throat.

Unknown to her, the group huddled in the bushes some feet away sweatdropped at the girl's sudden evil demeanor.

Hinata shivered. "She's scary…"

Naruto took notice of the Hyuuga heiress's shivering. "Eh? Hinata-chan, are you cold or something?" Without waiting for an answer, he placed his hand on her forehead. "Nope. No fever." Instantly, Hinata's face turned beet red.

Neji growled in annoyance. Here he was, stuck with this weird lot, spying on this weird girl, when he could have been training against his weird sensei! Why was he here again? He snuck a glance at the chocolate-haired girl beside him. Oh yeah…because his teammate dragged him here.

Crouching beside him, Kiba laughed quietly. "Naruto, you're so dumb! Hahahaa!"

Shino's eyebrow arched. He knew the Haruno girl was weird…but with that evil laugh? Insane.

"God, why is she so _scary_?" Ino said, twitching at the pink-haired girl's weirdness.

Tenten could only smile weakly. "She's a weird one…"

Shikamaru grumbled, as usual. "How troublesome…it's not like we're going to see anything…"

"Of course we are! That's why we're spying on Sakura- to find out the connection between her and Uchiha-san!" Hinata suddenly said, startling herself and the others. Hastily, she covered her mouth in embarrassment. Clearing her throat, she added to lighten her sudden outburst, "Eh…well, you never know what might happen…"

Ino clasped her hands together in glee. "Wow, Hinata, I never knew you were like that!" The Hyuuga girl could only twiddle her thumbs and nod. That was enough of a boost for Ino, however. "Alright!-" She shouted, only to be muffled by Shikamaru.

She swiveled her blue eyes to the lazy ninja. "MmmMMmm!"

Shikamaru placed a finger on his lips. "Shh…we're supposed to be spying, right?" He let his hand drop and sighed out, "Geez, you call yourself a kunoichi?"

Ino rolled her eyes before turning back to the _still _cackling Sakura. "Now if only Sasuke would show himself…"

"Heh. I wouldn't worry about that…what do you think Sakura's plan is?" Kiba whispered.

"Whatever would make _that_ girl laugh like that…" Tenten said, motioning to the still laughing Sakura in the clearing, "I would hate to be the person who's getting the end of it."

Everyone nodded unanimously.

Back to Sakura, she was in her own little world.

"Mwhahahahahahahahahahahaha-" She suddenly choked and pounded on her chest. After a few seconds, she breathed in a fresh gulp of air. A cough. "Argh…note to self: don't laugh maniacally after eating potato chips." The hyper pink-haired girl sweatdropped at her own silliness.

"Ooh! I just can't wait to see Sasuke's face…the horror…heh…" Sakura threw her head back and placed her hands on her hips. "MWAHAHAHAAA!"

The group in the bush shuddered.

And at that moment, everyone thought the same thing:

'S-s…scary…'

-

Enormous black eyes stared back at him.

Sasuke was crouching on the forest floor, staring back. His onyx eyes were concentrating on one thing…

A caterpillar.

The caterpillar's insect-like eyes haven't blinked in over twelve minutes. So haven't Sasuke's.

The dark-haired boy twitched. His eyes burned for moisture. They felt dry and itchy. Sasuke could've sworn he saw the caterpillar's eyes twitch before.

A tear developed in his eyes. It stung like a mother. Another twitch from Sasuke.

Twitch. Twitch. Twitch.

The caterpillar stared on, its eyes never moving.

Twitch. Twitch. Twi-

"ARGH!" Sasuke yelled, and jumped up and down, furiously blinking to get the moisture back to his eyes. After the burning sensation faded, he looked at the caterpillar square in the eye and glared.

"You've won this time, but I WILL be victorious!" Sasuke growled out. He blinked.

Blink. Blink.

"What the HELL did I just say?"

Sasuke mentally smacked himself. Ow. That hurt. He sighed deeply, and watched out of the corner of his eye as the caterpillar crawled away on a dead tree trunk. "That crazy girl is really getting to me…"

"Oh, Sasuke-_kun_…" A voice cooed, penetrating his thoughts. "I have something to tell you…"

The dark-haired shinobi turned his head toward his right, where the voice was coming from. It was obviously Sakura's…but that voice? It sounded like she was trying to seduce him or something!

He scoffed. He wasn't going to reveal himself just like that. No way ho say. His pride as the best Hide-and-seek-tag player was on the line. It would NOT look good if he was bested by some pink-headed girl.

"Sasuke-_kun_…"

Again with the annoying tone of voice. Sasuke had to resist the urge to run up to Sakura and smack it out of her.

"Won't you come out from where you're hiding? I have something I would like to tell you…"

This got his attention. What could Sakura possibly tell him? The gears in his Super-Uchiha-Brain churned. 'Unless…'

"Aww, you wouldn't want anyone to know _our little s-e-c-r-e-t_…right?" A mischievous giggle.

Sasuke's blood ran cold. It's amazing how a sentence can turn anyone into an entire different person. Sasuke had always secretly wondered how Naruto could change from one thing, to the next in a blink of an eye. Now he can experience it himself.

"She wouldn't _dare_…" Sasuke's body was rigid with unparalleled fear. His eyes were as wide as an owl's…he was sure anyone would pay a million dollars just to take a snapshot of his expression.

From somewhere across the forest, Sakura added, "Oh, and I WOULD dare…" Something in her tone caused Sasuke to know she wasn't lying.

A cloud of dirt formed where Sasuke's form had been 0.0001 seconds ago. He streaked across the forest floor, heading directly toward the waiting Sakura. Somehow, he knew exactly where she was.

The pink-haired girl smirked in utmost satisfaction as she saw a huge dirt-cloud streaking rapidly toward her. She whistled in surprise. Was that a 50-foot tree collapsing? She rolled her eyes. 'Men and their stupid pride…what's a small rumor about knowing some crazy girl going to do to your reputation anywhos?'

The Uchiha almost never-really raised his voice. Only in battle. And this, he considered a battle. For his reputation and pride. "SA-KU-RA!"

Sakura raised her hand, waving it. "Ooh! Ooh! That's me!" She wasn't the least bit scared as the form of the Uchiha boy was visible only a couple feet away.

In full view of the mayhem that was about to occur, a bush shivered.

"…is Sakura going to die?" Ino asked, a hint of worry in her voice. The whole group lay crouching behind the bush, their legs aching.

"I hope she'll be alright…Uchiha-san looks mad…" Hinata said, concerned for her friend's life.

Naruto had a gleam in his eyes. He had a newfound appreciation for Sakura. "Dang. Even I couldn't get Sasuke-teme angry like _that_." BOOM! Another tree fell from its 70-years-old roots.

Tenten pushed some branches away to see the battlefield better. "I wonder what secret they have…"

"Must be pretty bad to have Sasuke _running_ here, knocking down _50-foot-trees_ with a _murderous_ look in his eye." Kiba commented.

A scoff escaped Tenten's lips. "Hmph. Men and their pride…"

Surprisingly, it was Neji who defended the entire male population in the world. "Pride is very important for men…_you_ wouldn't know, however." He shifted his milky-white eyes to the weapons-mistress accusingly. "Unless…"

"NO, I AM NOT A MAN." Came the direct, heated and embarrassed reply.

"I for one, think that Sakura is going to die an early death." Shino said, not a muscle moving as he predicted the death of their friend.

Not a word was spoken.

"Let's join our hands together for a prayer…and hope that God is listening somewhere up there and would save Sakura." Hinata said, grasping Tenten and Ino's hand. It was a direct order, one that held a rarely seen steel in it. Even Neji didn't resist as they all grasped hands.

Back to the patiently waiting Sakura, she could smell victory in her nose. It was _so_ close! Sasuke inched closer…closer…closer…like a raging bull seeing red.

A smirk painted Sakura's face. She raced toward the boy, startling him momentarily but that was enough. "Hah! I've got you now!" She reached out a menacing hand to tag him. Sasuke could do nothing but watch in horror as the hand inched closer. He had pumped too much charka into his feet in his haste.

Sakura's hand felt cloth. "TAG-!"

POOF! Sasuke's form was gone. In its place was a piece of log. Kawarimi no jutsu. Sakura stood still, hand still outstretched from where she tagged 'Sasuke'. The spirit blinked her eyes in disbelief. 'What! Then where is-'

A tap from behind her. Sakura slowly turned around to face none other than Uchiha Sasuke. Smirking. Triumphantly.

"Eh…heheh. Hey, Sasuke…how's it going?" Sakura laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head. Sasuke's expression then clouded like a dark sky. "Uhh…y-you k-know…that little bit about telling the secret? Yeah, w-well I wasn't REALLY planning to tell the others…"

Sasuke glared, arms folded.

Sakura continued, invisible sweat trickling down her face. "Oh, come on! I'm not that kind of person!" She smacked Sasuke's back in an attempt to appear harmless. "Let's let bygones be bygones, shall we?"

The Uchiha advanced a step. Sakura took one back.

One thought ran across her mind.

'RUN DAMMIT!'

The bush where the gang of friends resided in sweatdropped. The forest was filled with screams of terror and yells. The screams of terror belonging to the chibi-ish pink-haired girl, the yells belonging to the dark-aura-of-death surrounding Sasuke.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH! I'M SORRY SASUKE! PLEASE FORGIVE ME? OW! ALRIGHT, MAYBE NOT! OH COME ON! OW, DAMMIT! I KNOW I WAS WRONG FOR BAITING YOU LIKE THAT BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE TO THROW KUNAIS AND TRY TO IMPALE ME!"

A kunai whizzed pass Sakura's ear.

"FORGIVE ME, PLEASE?"

A shuriken sliced cleanly through a thick log.

'Why me?' Sakura thought, crying while she raced around the forest for her life. 'WHY DO I ALWAYS GET THE EGOTISTICAL-MENTALLY-UNSTABLE MASTERS? WHY!'

-

Well, I hope it turned out better than I hoped! I'm sorry, again, for the late post and I do hope you guys forgive me! (smile) But I know you faithful reviewers out there will! You guys are so forgiving! (huggles everyone) (reviewers choke) Ooh, sorry! THANKIES SO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT!

Sorry, I was too lazy to write all the names of the people who reviewed…and besides…faster update! (lol)

THANKS TO EVEYRONE WHO REVIEWED! I TAKE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM TO HEART! REVIEW ONEGAI! (huggles Naruto teddy bear)

Complaints? Suggestions? Comments? Just want to blab anything? GREAT! REVIEW and blab away! Randomness is welcome! (evil crazy laugh)


	7. Breakfast with an Uchiha

**Wishful Thinking**

**by: Sakuranime**

Disclaimer: If I told you I owned Naruto…would you believe me?

Ne, it's the 7th chapter of Wishful Thinking! Aren't you guys happy? LoL. I wanted to get one in before the holidays, so please excuse it if it seems a bit rushed, redundant, not that much action, grammatical errors, or etc. I would appreciate it if you reviewed also! I've been really busy with high school so you could see where this is going, right? I promise you guys, the action WILL COME!

Review at the end!

"Quotations"

'Thoughts'

(( _Flashbacks_ ))

Chapter 7: Breakfast with an Uchiha

-

A light snore escaped the cherry lips of Sakura. Hands over her head in an awkward position, she slept like a bear in its hibernation cycle. Yesterday was sure hectic…running for her life, chased by a murderous Sasuke…knocking down buildings and people alike…having to clean up afterward…

And so is the life of one spirit.

A penguin-shaped clock was on the glass coffee desk beside the coach where Sakura lay upon.

_Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock- BRRRRIIIIIINNNNNGGGGG! _

"_WAKE UP! IT'S MORNING! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! DISCO DISCOLAND!" _

The alarm clock screamed from within the beak of the penguin.

"_PLAY THAT FUNKY MUSIC WHITE BOY! PLAY THAT FUNKY MUSIC RIGHT! ONE! TWO! THREE! A! B! C! BREAK DOWN! GO GO GO GO GO! THE SUN IS BRIGHT-"_

Crack! A fist connected with the button on the alarm clock, silencing the incessant noise. The pink-haired girl sat upright on the comfy couch, her half-opened eyes gazing at nothing. A yawn escaped her throat. Sakura stretched, arching her back like a cat.

"Aaahhh! That was a nice sleep!" Sakura beamed aloud. She tumbled out of the couch and raced to the grand window. She pulled the gold handle and threw the windows open, gazing fondly at the view in front of her. "What a GORGEOUS day! The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, the fountains are gurgling, the grass is greening, the mansion is spotless…" And on and on the spirit went.

Let's just say she's hyper 24/7.

The creaking of the steps signaled the presence of someone. Sakura stopped her gushing of the morning to glance at the stairs. There stood the master of the mansion, Sasuke, drying his wet hair with a white towel and clad in a dark blue sleeveless and white short.

"Why are you still here?" He asked, annoyed.

Sakura pouted, "I told you! I have to grant you THREE WISHES! The first one doesn't count at all because of your rudeness." (Look back to Chapter 4 if you don't remember!)

"Hn. I guess the wish really didn't work…you're still annoying," Ignoring the pink-haired girl's immediate string of facial expressions, Sasuke reached the bottom step and looked at the clock, "Hm. It's nine o' clock."

Poof! Sakura's anger dissipated at the prospect of food, "Yay! Breakfast!" She bounded into the kitchen before Sasuke and took a seat on the cushiony dining table, "What are we going to eat first?"

Sasuke walked into the kitchen, a confused look on his face, "Whoa. Hold up. YOU'RE cooking breakfast. It's only fair that you do it because you're living, without my permission I might add, under my roof." He took a seat at the table with a smirk.

Sakura stared blankly at him.

And stared.

"What?" Sasuke questioned, "You _can_ cook, right?"

"Err…" Sakura said nervously, twiddling her thumbs in embarrassment.

"…right?"

The spirit girl cleared her throat, "Well, you see, we spirits have training to harness our powers, and we don't really have much time to do much else…" She said slowly.

"And?" Sasuke said irritably. His stomach growled in anguish. He wanted food and he wanted it now!

"Eh…Ican'tcook." She blurted, her words spilling altogether.

"You what?"

"I can't cook."

"What?"

"I can't cook!"

"What?"

"I CAN'T COOK DAMMIT!" Sakura was fed up with the boy's pestering. I mean, was it so hard to understand that she can't cook?

"You're serious, right?" Sasuke choked out, taken aback.

Sakura rolled her eyes at the boy's shock, "No, I'm not Sirius. He died in the 5th book of Harry Potter," She answered sarcastically, "But so what if I can't cook! I can grant wishes and that's even better!"

"…if you can grant wishes, how come you can't just conjure breakfast or something?" Sasuke asked, a perfectly done eyebrow arched.

"I may be able to grant wishes and use powers like that but there ARE some restrictions you know. If there weren't, how do you expect people to be living in peace? If spirits were allowed to do anything they please, you would see sweets on every menu, evil running amuck, and Barney still on air! The rules state that a genie-spirit can grant wishes and use their powers for good, but some things just have to be done manually for the sake of feeling human. Cooking breakfast is one of them," She crossed her arms and pouted.

The dark-haired Uchiha only stared in disbelief. A sigh escaped his lips and he stood up, resigned, "Then I guess I'll have to make something…"

Sakura's eyes widened owlishly, "What! You're cooking?"

The wet strands of black hair bobbed in answer. Sasuke reached into the cabinet for some pancake mix and brought out a box.

"I don't want to die of food poisoning! I'm too young to die! I still have dreams and goals I want to accomplish, like owning the Godiva chocolate factory and finding out if Santa is real or not!" (I added this for the Christmas spirit. Heehee!) The girl cried in agony on the thick glass table.

"What! Food poisoning? At least I can cook…" Sasuke grumbled to the pink-haired drama queen. He glanced at the sobbing girl and added as an afterthought, "and don't you _dare_ get that table dirty. Do you know how much it cost me?"

-

A few minutes passed and the buttery smell of Aunt Jemima's pancakes permeated the air in the kitchen. Sakura's drama queen act was long finished but she was still doubtful of Sasuke's culinary skills.

But the pancakes sure smelled good.

A loud grumble sounded from Sakura's stomach.

Sasuke glanced at her from flipping the pancake on the frying pan, "Breakfast is almost ready…I still can't believe you don't know how to cook…"

"Are you being sexist?" Sakura said hotly. If there was one thing she hated more than no chocolate on Valentine's day, it was sexist jerks! "Just because I'm a GIRL doesn't mean I have to have cooking skills!"

"Hmm…thanks for the clarification, now I'm sure you're a girl," He turned back to the pancakes. Scooping up the pancake with a spatula, he tossed it into the air. With his quick reflexes from training, he caught the pancake onto a plate. Without looking at his face, Sakura knew he wore an arrogant smirk.

Growling, she muttered under her breath, "Arrogant jerk, thinks he soooo cool and soooo awesome just because he flipped some pancakes and could cook soooo much better than a girl…" She trailed off, looking at him via her peripheral vision.

A hot feeling surrounded her cheeks as Sakura took in the boy's appearance. Light shone through the window, bathing him in the morning light.

Dark strands of hair clung to his scalp, causing it to look less chicken-like. His intense onyx eyes usually serious looked relax and calm. Sakura had always seen Sasuke's face in tight concentration or scowling but it was devoid of any now.

The Uchiha slid the steel spatula under a pancake and tossed it into the air. His movements were melded into one fluid motion as the pancake landed unharmed onto the plate stacked with pancakes.

'Wow…I've never noticed it before but…Sasuke is actually…' Sakura thought, her sight on him, 'Good-looking…'

As Sasuke lifted his face and toward the window, the light shone in just the right places. His hair glistened, looking a dark blue in some places. If Sakura had to describe her master in one word, it would be 'god-like.'

Feeling an intense stare burning into him, Sasuke glanced at the mesmerized girl, "What are you looking at?"

Caught in the act, the pink-haired girl blushed even harder. She stammered out, "Uhh…e-err…n-nothing…"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. And he thought Naruto was weird.

"W-well, how are the pancakes coming along?" Sakura quickly changed the subject, not wanting to dilly-dally on her embarrassment. She got up, grabbed the orange juice and two glasses and set them on the table. Then she walked over to the drawers where the eating utensils were found.

"Just fine, since I'm cooking it," Sasuke reported, flicking off the stove.

Grabbing a pair of knifes and forks, she walked back to the table, growling, "You sure get your kicks out of lowering my self-esteem, huh? This is called bullying!" She took two pieces of napkins from the napkin holder on the table. Taking a knife and fork, she rolled it in a napkin and placed it neatly on one side of the table. Sakura did the same with the other utensils.

Putting her hands on her hips, she stood back and smiled at her handiwork, "Isn't it good, Sasu-"

Sasuke merely took a seat and swiftly rolled out the knife and fork. Holding the syrup by it's handle, he poured an even amount onto his mile-high pancakes and began eating.

Sakura twitched, "You can't even say a 'thank you' or 'oh, that's nice' or 'ooooh! That's so pretty!' or even a 'good idea'?" She demanded, plopping onto the cushiony seat and hastily rolling out her utensils.

"Hn," was the reaction she received.

Sakura rolled her eyes. 'Not really the reaction I was hoping for, but hey, it could've been worse,' she thought as she dug into her platter of breakfast.

"So are you going to tell me the rules of wish-making or not?"

Sasuke's sudden demand- err, question snapped Sakura to attention. It surprised her that he took a sudden attention on the topic but she was glad he believed her now.

"Well," Sakura began, biting into a pancake, "there are so many rules and regulations…hmm, where should I start?"

"There's that many?" Sasuke asked, bewildered.

Pink hair bobbed up and down, "Yeah, but I'll summarize it." Clearing her throat, Sakura's face turned serious as she began her mile-long explanation.

"As the spirit, genie, or whatever you want to call me, my job is to see that my mistress or master," she looked at Sasuke, "namely you, receive exactly three wishes. Nothing more, and nothing less."

Sasuke nodded, all the while chewing pancakes.

Sakura took a sip of her orange juice before continuing. "Even though there is an enormous quantity of rules, it's pretty simple. You cannot wish for death, pain, violence, or any other sort of benevolent offence to anyone, including yourself."

The dark-haired boy seated across from her grumbled aloud. "Darn, I was going to wish for my brother's demise…"

-

The man felt the cold metal feeling of a kunai right beside his neck. His eyes widened as a whimpering sound escaped his throat.

"Mr. Takamura?" The cloaked man asked in a sultry, quiet voice.

The addressed person eyed the kunai as he answered, "So what if I am?" A cold feeling of dread washed over him as the mysterious man smirked. He knew his end was near.

"Then prepare to meet your end," Red eyes encircled with swirling commas burned holes into the back of Takamura's skull. The cloaked man gripped the offending weapon tighter in his grip.

Beads of sweat formed in mere seconds as fear gripped Takamura's chest as he uttered his last words; a futile plea, "Oh God, please…please, no…"

"I hope you've lived a fulfilling life on this earth." The owner of the sharingan eyes whispered. Suddenly, a quick spasm of air developed from his mouth, cutting the tension in the air. A sneeze.

Takamura blinked in surprise, forgetting about his little dilemma, "God bless you-"

The man swiped the kunai across the soft flesh of the neck and blood splattered over his cheek and Atkatsuki cloak. He didn't care. This was routine work. He wiped the dirty kunai on the suit of the man he decapitated.

"…I think someone's talking about you, Itachi," Kisame stepped from the shadows of the room.

Itachi turned around to look at his partner in crime's face, "So it would seem."

-

"WHAT!" Sakura exclaimed, "Absolutely NO wishing for any death! Sorry, tough luck, but I would lose my Spirit-license!"

Sasuke HAD to raise an eyebrow for that. "'Spirit-license'?"

The girl across the table from him nodded. "Yeah. Duh, every genie-spirit carries one of those." She gulped down a mouthful of OJ. "You also can't use your wishes for petty things, like wishing me away or to make me stop my behavior." She send a glare at him. Coughing intentionally, she continued, "Your wishes have to be from the _bottom of your heart_."

"…who the hell made _that_ up? It sounds corny."

"NO ONE ASKED YOUR OPINION, CHICKEN-HEAD!" Sakura snapped, a vein throbbing on her wide forehead.

"USELESS PINK-HAIRED SPIRIT!"

"WATCH IT SHORTY!"

"DON'T CALL ME A SHORTY- LOOK WHO'S TALKING!"

"SHUT-…wait. Darnit! I am shorter than you…" Sakura pouted cutely, resuming her normal behavior. Rolling his eyes with an amused smirk on his face, Sasuke beckoned her to continue.

"ANYWAYS, your wishes have to be what you really want. They can't be wasted like asking for an ice cream because wishes are valuable! AND, they can't be something like wishing for a mountain of gold." Sakura stated matter-of-factly.

Sasuke shrugged, his spiky black hair brushing against his neck. "I don't think I'll wish for that." He pointed passed her to the living room, where a random mountain of gold stood.

"Rich bastard…" Sakura muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Sasuke asked sharply.

"Nothing!" She answered in a sing-song voice. "Now, I think that covers everything, right?"

The boy sputtered, "I thought you said it was going to be long!"

The pink-haired girl glared. "I shortened it for you, be grateful. Do you want to hear all 2,000,356,203,394 words?" When he didn't reply, she said, "Hmph. Your welcome, your _highness_."

After pouring an overload of syrup, she snatched the knife and cut through the layers of pancakes, almost breaking the expensive china in the process. Sakura placed the knife down with a 'thud' and took the stainless steel fork. She stabbed at the pancakes, stuffing them angrily down her throat.

Sasuke paused from putting a piece of pancake into his tempted mouth to look at the insane girl. He watched this process of grabbing, thudding, stabbing, and shoving for a couple of seconds and sighed audibly.

"Thanks."

Sakura's hand stopped from shoving three pieces of pancake down the hatch. She looked at him through green eyes. "What?"

The embarrassed boy muttered out, "Thanks."

A huge smile slowly appeared on Sakura's features, threatening to split her face apart, "Your welcome!" She said sincerely in reply and continued to eat…but in a less forceful way, mind you.

Unbeknownst to the hyper genie-spirit-girl, Sasuke continued to watch her. A barely noticeable red tint stained his pale cheeks.

'What's that phrase Nara always says?'

Sakura choked suddenly and pounded on her chest. Apparently, she was eating too fast. What kind of normal person shoves seven pieces of pancakes down their throats! After a few seconds of pounding, she flashed him a V-sign with her fingers, grinning at her own silliness.

The blush grew into a darker hew.

'Oh yeah…'Women are troublesome'…'

--**owari**—

Ahhh! That was refreshing! Thank you all SO SO SO SOOO much for your reviews! I appreciate each and every one of them, I really do! It's so nice to have someone read your work and leave a comment, whether good or bad. I'M SO SORRY because I think there wasn't much things going on! But in the next chapter, I PROMISE YOU I will put more action in it! I already know what I'm going to type and you can bet everyone's fave panda is going to show up soon! Yup, GAARA-KUN! (pounce) YAY! I hope there weren't too many spelling or grammatical errors…(sighs) I've ACTUALLY been busy…GAH. WAY TOO MUCH HOMEWORK! And I can't write essays for my life…(lol). But on lighter news, I'm thanking all of the individual reviewers who were kind enough to write a little after reading this!

**Author responds (finally lol): **

DarknessReigns4ever: Lol, thank you so much, your reviews are always helpful! (smile) About the last part, I just put it in for humor purposes, but you are REALLY perceptive! (pat on the back) About you requested fanfict, I'm sooooo sorry that I haven't posted it yet- I've been flooded with tons of homework, essays, and quizzes. (sighs deeply) I promise you I will get it up by Christmas, though! Gomen nasai, please wait a bit longer! (bows)

Lifeless-Kanna: Thank…you…so…much! (lol)

iluvanime493: Aww, thanks! I couldn't wait to post this chapter either! Although it WAS dull…(sob) I'm sorry! But I'm saving the action and all for next chapter! Please wait!

Lone Sakura: Thank you so mucho! Yay, Spanish! LOL. Thanks for thinking my story is cute and humorous, I try my best for the reviewers! Though you're giving me too much credit…!

Nadramon: Hey, long time no see! (waves) Well…isn't rating T equivalent to PG-13? Or…er, I dunno. Hm. But maybe it is because of the language…lol. Little children shouldn't be speaking this…lol. AWESOME, you're French? I'm Korean, but that's still cool. Aww, you'll recognize a swear word soon enough…it's the word everyone goes 'ooooh' at. Well, not really! (smile)

Rhibskil: Lol, thanks for your review! Yes, yes, WHEN is the question! Keep reading and thanks!

star cherry: Always short and sweet, your reviews are. Lol. Yoda-talk.

raiden no onna: YAY! (throws confetti) Love insanity…the world is insane, afterall! So sorry if there wasn't much insanity in this chapter though! I beg thee forgiveness!

ShyLittleAngel: Lol. I'm so happy- making people laugh helps make me feel like I'm influencing someone I don't even know…and that's cool! (lol) Aww, don't feel bad for Sakura- she's a spirit, remember? Shh! Don't tell the genins, though!

Tank: Hey, sup? Lol, I know I made Sasuke's staring contest and Hinata leading the prayers off the top of my head. What can I say? It's all in the MAD SKILLZ. LOL! I love your little outtake! Mucho awesome and funny and kawaii!

otakualways: Thank you soooo much! I want to keep writing this too! Your reviews help so please keep them coming!

Sunshine-Peak: UPDATED! LoL.

Well, those are it for the reviews…PLEASE REVIEW! THEY HELP A LOT AND I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT BECAUSE MY FRIENDS LOWER MY SELF-ESTEEM (in a friendly way) SO IT WOULD REALLY GET A BOOST IF YOU WOULD REVIEW! (waves)

Complaints? Suggestions? Comments? Just want to blab anything? GREAT! REVIEW and blab away! Randomness is welcome! (evil crazy laugh)


	8. I want to enter too!

**Wishful Thinking**

**by: Sakuranime**

Disclaimer: The phantasmagorical world of Naruto belongs solely to ME! ...hah! Fooled ya didn't I? No? Well, fine. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and will forever.

I'm SO. SO. SORRY! You guys must be extremely tired of hearing me say this, no? (sigh) But truly, I'm sorry. I've been busy with a research paper and piles of homework. GAH. And, I've recently joined spring track but…I really haven't been keeping up with my duties…gah. I'm so bad. AND I've been obsessing with a scan I've just finished called** Devil & Devil**. It's EXTREMELEY entertaining and I highly recommend it to anyone who would like to read it. Albeit it DOES have some…scenes…but you can just skip those! (laugh) AND-! I really haven't gone on the computer for AWHILE. It's a miracle I haven't shot myself with a harpoon gun yet…

ANYWHOS-! I think I've delayed you guys long enough! I'm sorry for the HUGE wait – aproximately 3 MONTHS! So sorry! - and for producing such a small and bad piece of a chapter out of my ass…I'm sorry! (sob) But I hope you guys like this chapter and without further ado- READ ON!

"Quotations"

_Thoughts_

(( Flashbacks ))

Chapter 8: I want to enter too!

-

In his usual position when waiting for his sensei to arrive, Sasuke had his eyes closed and back pressed against the rail of the bridge.

Usually, he would cherish this peaceful moment where there was NO Naruto, NO Kakashi, and NO noises. Just him, his conscience, and nature. The spring breeze blowing gently, the trees dancing, the flowers in full bloom, the blue sky, the warmth of the sun…

"SASUKE! YOU MORON HOW DARE YOU LEAVE ME BEHIND LIKE THAT-"

Of course, fate was not kind to dearest Sasuke.

"-AT THE HOUSE! I OUGHT TO STRANGLE YOU-"

There was _always_ something that would ruin his perfect day.

"-RIP YOUR GUTS OUT-"

Some force that detested him for some odd reason, Sasuke himself didn't know.

"-PUT THEM IN A BAG AND PUT THAT BAG IN A BOX-"

Sasuke didn't see himself as a saint, but certainly not a villain! What did he _do_ to deserve this punishment?

"-AND SHIP IT TO YOU!"

Inwardly groaning, Sasuke pushed himself off of the railing and massaged his temples. Truly, TRULY, **TRULY**, he would just love to get rid of that girl!

"Are you always this violent?" The dark-haired boy asked in a boring tone.

Taking long strides, Sakura walked to the bridge in a hurry. Huffing, she came up to his side and replied, "NO, but you have a tendency to push me!"

"Yay. I feel so special."

His tone dripping with sarcasm caused Sakura's eyebrow to twitch. "Grr...why I oughta-"

"SAKURA-CHAN!"

As if she was a totally different person, Sakura's GAH-I'M-GOING-TO-MURDER-YOU demeanor changed completely. Sasuke rose an eyebrow. This girl changes waaay too fast. Turning around to be engulfed in Naruto's infamous bear-hug, a huge smile traced her lips.

"Naruto! Nice to see ya too!" Sakura greeted, returning the bear-hug.

Grinning like a clown, Naruto let the girl go. "Hi Sakura-chan!" Looking sideways, he glared at the dark-haired boy next to her and muttered, "...and Sasuke-teme..."

"…dobe…" Came Sasuke's curt reply.

DING DING!

IN THIS CORNER, UCHIHA SASUKE! AND IN THAT CORNER, UZUMAKI NARUTO! GLARING CONTEST – BEGIN!

Sakura swore she saw electric sparks fly between the two boy's eyes.

_I wonder when that scarecrow-man will show up…_

Looking at the sky, Sakura estimated it was around 9-ish in the morning.

…_probably not anytime soon…_

-

"So…let me get this straight- Sasuke-teme over there's going to lure Kakashi-sensei into a trap," Naruto said slowly, processing every bit of information into his ramen-filled mind.

Said bastard and Sakura nodded, feeling the need to bash the boy's skull with a textbook. The trio of genins was seated on the grass near the bridge, for it was too hot to sit on the ground.

"Then, while I execute my awesome Kage-bunshin-no-jutsu on the startled Kakashi-sensei, Sakura will come out of hiding and give him a taste of her giant-forehead! And finally we'll all bound Kakashi-sensei with rope, toss his over a waterfall, and blame it all on a random hobo!" The fox-boy was grinning from ear to ear, having been finally grasped the not-so-complicated plan.

"…who came up with the plan again?" Sakura asked, disappointed.

"We did, but anything that comes out of the dobe's mouth sounds stupid anyways." Sasuke leaned back on the trunk of a spring tree, it's leafs creating a natural shade.

"What was that, teme?" Naruto growled, jumping to his feet.

"GUYS!" Sakura's voice penetrated and caught their attention. "Back to the plan, please?" When she was sure they were listening, she continued, "Anywhos, after we manage to bound Kakashi-sensei with rope and yada, yada, yada, we'll put him in a coffin, sell his 'corpse' on EBay, and cast a spell that would force him to sing everything he says, opera-style!" She was panting a bit from her rant, her excitement rolling off of her in waves.

"Eh…Sakura-chan?" Naruto said cautiously, _discreetly_ inching away from the crazy-eyed girl, "We're NINJAS. Not witches or warlocks!"

A frown marred the pink-haired girl's features. Crossing her arms over her chest and a pout on her lips, Sakura muttered, "Thanks Naruto…you basically ruined my Kill-the-Scarecrow-Man-plan to bits!"

"Who's killing whom?"

The trio froze, like deers caught in front of a truck. Inching slowly around, they faced their superior in strength, ability, and perverseness.

This would be Sakura's second time upon meeting the man and even she, with her magically-enhanced mind would need a refresher on how he appeared.

The man called Hatake Kakashi was a tall man, with silver gravity-defying hair. He wore an ensemble consisting of a dark blue garment under his forest green jounin vest and the same dark blue shirt covered his legs as well. Gloves covered his hands. His Konoha hitai-ate was positioned in such a way that it covered his left eye and a mask covered his mouth.

"Well? Who's planning to kill whom?" Kakashi questioned again, hands behind his back, looming above them and the expression of the laidback person he was.

"Err…well…eh- hahaha…ah…huh?" Naruto stammered, sweating ever so slightly. Sakura's expression mirrored his and Sasuke was…well, Sasuke.

"Were you planning to assassinate me?" Kakashi asked innocently. The trio muttered indecipherably under their breaths.

"Well, I do declare, Mr. Bouregard!" Kakashi chuckled with a fake British accent, placing a hand over his heart dramatically. "I'm deeply hurt that you three children, two of them my most FAVORITE genins, and one of them I've just recently befriended but feel like I've known you forever, want to kill me?" With a blur of his hand, he whipped out three kunais and in mere seconds, pinned the three startled genins to the grassy ground.

Kakashi stepped toward them, a frightening expression on his normally joking face. "How DARE YOU do this to me, your beloved teacher? For this act of violation, I will strip of you your titles and you will NEVER be able to become Konoha NINJAS!"

Lightening struck, and the clouds thundered like horse hoofs.

Naruto's eyes became as wide as saucers and he sputtered to form words. His mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for air. "Wha…who…I…NO…my…ninja…hokage…never…I…wait…why…can't…be…WHAT!"

"Pfft. You're lying." Sasuke crossed his arms and said flatly. Kakashi pulled this one over them before when they first got out of the ninja academy. He would be a fool to fall for it again.

…but then again, Kakashi looks…pretty…_serious_…

Narrowing his eyes, the jounin glared at his genins and one girl. Sakura looked around at her companions nervously, wondering if Kakashi was joking or not.

"You guys…" He said darkly, anger seeping from his voice, "…are so MEAN!" The blatant ending shocked Naruto and Sakura, while Sasuke just let out a 'hmph'.

Kakashi's covered mouth turned upside down and he lowered his head dejectedly like a lost puppy. "I can't believe you guys would try to kill me like that…at least a proper burial afterwards…" He whipped a fake tear from his visible eye and continued to mope dramatically.

"Wha-? Ah-…huh…wh…what…?" The hyperactive fox said, fumbling his words into a non-sensible way.

Sakura stared. Then she broke in fake laughter. "Hahaha! Kakashi-san, you had me going there for a moment! Hahaha!" She held her stomach to emphasize her point, and continued to envelop in nervousness. "Hahaa! HAHAHAHAAAAhahaha…ahaha…aha…ahahaha…aha…ha…uh…ahem." Noticing she was the only one laughing, Sakura coughed. "Uhm…yeah. Good joke."

"Whatever," Sasuke muttered, getting up from the grass. "Can we just get on with the training?"

At the special word, Naruto jumped back into his hyper self. Quite literally. "Yeah yeah! Ano sa ano sa, Kakashi-sensei! For once I agree with the bastard! When are we going to train?" He whined, getting up as well.

Sakura placed her hands on the grass and lifted herself up. Removing any traces of dirt from her clothes, she looked up questioningly at the smiling jounin. "Kakashi-san, what training?"

"The training we basically repeat everyday." Sasuke supplied for her, his tone lethargic.

"My training sessions do well, you know." Kakashi said all-knowingly. "But as for the training…"

"WHAT! WE'RE NOT HAVING ANY? WHY! WHY! KAKASHI-SENSEI DON'T DO THIS TO ME PLEASE! I'M GOING TO DIE IF WE DON'T-" Naruto shouted, making various hand motions and movements spasmodically.

"Relax, Naruto," Kakashi interjected lazily, back to his usual mode. "Can you wait until I finish?" Clearing his throat, he placed a finger on the placed where his lips would be if it wasn't for his mask. "This may surprise you, but I've recommended you two for the Chuunin Selection Exam."

Naruto was speechless. For the second time today, his sensei caught him off guard. If Sasuke was shocked, he sure didn't show it.

Sakura, left in the dark, asked, "Uhh…what's the Chuunin Selection Exam?" As soon as she uttered those words, Kakashi immediately launched into a detailed 'summary' of her question.

"The Chuunin Exam is a test which is held twice every year to determine which genins, from all around the world, are at the required skill level to become a chuunin; as long as they have completed a minimum of eight missions, they may enter the exam."

"However, it is also held as a replacement for war amongst the Hidden Villages. Once, many great shinobi countries were at war with each other, and many ninja were killed as a consequence. So, the chuunin exam was devised as way for civilians, country lords, and peoples from places without ninja villages to see the mightiest of the villages, and therefore, the country whose ninja perform the best would, in theory, gain the most new and continued custom."

"Therefore, it is in a village's best interest for their shinobi to do well, as it will mean an increase in customers; and, it is of course, in the shinobi's best interest to do well, as it will mean a promotion to a higher rank. The country where the exam is held varies every event, however, this year we, Konohagakure, will be holding it. It'll be no surprise if you see foreign ninja in our village pretty soon. Oh, and the exam held in our village is normally split into three parts."

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto asked, his face alit with excitement. "Can you tell us what the three parts are?"

"Hah! Of course…" Naruto's face brightened. "…not! I can't tell you that, sorry!" The fox-boy's face fell.

"But-! I _could_ tell you that it's…" Kakashi lowered his voice. Motioning for the trio to come closer (which they did, with the exception of a reluctant Sasuke), Kakashi whispered, "…a…" They leaned closer.

"…SECRET!" The masked-jounin said, laughing.

The two genins and girl sweat dropped.

Kakashi put his hands into his pockets while chuckling. Fishing out two papers, he held them out to them. "You have to fill out applications."

Jumping on the startled jounin, Naruto hugged him, barely strangling him in the process and shouting, "Kakashi-sensei, I love you!"

"Get off, Naruto…you're embarrassing me!" A muffled Kakashi's voice said from under Naruto's bear-hug.

Leaping off of the embarrassed sensei, Naruto whooped joyfully. "YEAH! I'M GOING TO THE CHUUNIN EXAMS!" He looked at his application in happiness, not really reading the words but happy nonetheless.

Sasuke scanned his paper quietly, darting from detail to detail. He had to make sure nothing was missing to ensure his success.

The pink-haired girl, suddenly feeling left-out, looked over Sasuke's shoulder. _Chuunin exam? Hmm…I never heard of this in any of the spirit textbooks…_ She frowned thoughtfully.

Kakashi continued, again fishing through his seemingly endless pocket. "If any of you don't wish to compete, the exam is entirely voluntary. The choice is yours. You needn't turn in those application forms unless you want to. If you do, report to Room 301 at the Konoha Academy by four tomorrow afternoon." He pulled out an all-too familiar book. "Well, that's all! I hope you guys make your decisions."

Preparing to leave, Kakashi was about to disappear into a plume of clouds when he was interrupted by a female voice.

"Wait, Kakashi-san!" Sakura called out, surprising the scarecrow-like man.

Closing his book, Kakashi asked, "What is it, Sakura-chan?"

Without missing a beat, Sakura blurted, "I want to enter into this Chuunin Exam too!"

- owari -

Alright, I apologize for the shortness but I wanted to have ideas for the next chappy and I wanted to post this ASAP for you guys! Again, I'm sorry for the THREE MONTHS wait- I would seriously be bashing an author if she did the same! So…I'm sorry! (bows)

I didn't have time to get review replies up if I wanted to upload this so…yeah! But don't worry! I will the next one…hopefully! And I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS read each and every single review! They all fill me up with joy and I hope this chapter wasn't as horrible as I thought it was!

Thank you! You guys are AWESOME! (heart-eyes)

Questions? Comments? Please write them in your reviews, by all means! I love to hear from you guys!


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